As Long as the Raven Flies
by Melkor44
Summary: Take out all the Christian imagery and symbolism from NGE, and replace it with gods of two European cultures that were eradicated by the followers of Christ: the Celts and the Norse. Now, face the rulers of the ancient world. Ragnarok approaches, but can it be stopped? Today, the old gods live again. Today, the old gods die with them...but not so long as long as the raven flies.
1. The Wild God

**I should probably be working on more important things, but I figured I would at least get this out there. Expect any updates to be sporadic, at best, but...this is a concept I wish I saw more of. Aside from "Children of an Elder God" by John Biles and Rod M, finished about ten years ago, I have seen nothing in a similar vein; why let Christianity have all the religious fun? I may be atheist, but my people were pagan and I will venerate the ancient gods long before I worship the man known as Christ. To that end, I've sought to blend Celtic and Norse mythology together and insert them into the _Neon Genesis Evangelion _universe. Depending on how well this is received, I'll continue.**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

He waited.

The postcard said to meet her here; she wasn't here yet, but that was because he'd arrived an hour early. There was nothing that he could do about that, though. Besides, he was used to waiting. It was what he did, out of dissociation with the world rather than some sense of patience. Within the walls of his mind, he could shrink infinitely. No one paid attention to him, because he never brought any attention to himself...he waited for someone to notice him.

Now, it seemed, someone finally had. His father, calling him back after a great many years of exile.

He couldn't hate the man, though. It wasn't in his nature to hate.

As she finally pulled up, he didn't get to continue with that thought, or the realization that he would probably be better off if he did hate his father.

"Shinji! Hello, Shinji!"

"Hmm?" He looked to her. "Hello...Misato, right?"

"Yeah. You haven't been waiting long, have you?"

Around her neck was a torc, clasped at the front, simple in its design and yet with incredibly complex engraving; Shinji's mother had worn something similar, though that had been around her wrist. If his father was to be believed, she had been buried with it. Her red leather jacket and black skirt gave a friendly look, if still somewhat imposing and businesslike. Her smile after speaking washed away any thoughts of feeling threatened, though.

"No, not too long."

The wind cut into his back as he spoke, and it chilled him to the bone. It was an old wind, a signal-wind. It had drifted through the ages, lost through currents and spaces and heights and depths, and his dress shirt was the last caress it felt; it was an ancient sign of a coming storm, but none could have known that except for the one who had set it into motion, thousands of years ago. In the distance, tremors shook the earth as a bitter rain began to fall.

"Let's get going, then! Your father said that today was going to be a very special day. I wonder what he's planned for you?"

"I don't know."

He also didn't know how safe he was with Misato's apparent driving ability; the woman was going upwards of a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, in steadily increasing rain, amid sharp turns and a fair number of road hazards. Did this woman really have a driver's license?

It was a moot point, though, as they reached the vehicle-sized escalator within five minutes.

"You really have no idea why he's called you here?"

"I don't even know what he does. We haven't spoken in three years."

"Nobody ever told you?"

"All they ever said was that it involved the future of humanity."

* * *

_In the year 2001, a meteor crashed into the North Pole and plunged all the way through the axis of the earth, erupting from the South Pole and burning out in the skies above Antarctica; the heat from its impact and explosion evaporated both ice caps, flooding the majority of the world and killing eighty-five percent of the earth's flora and fauna. Much of mankind perished in the months that followed the initial wave of what came to be known in some circles as "Second Impact," due to inflated food prices after mass-loss of crops. The entire geography of earth changed. In North America, all land west of the city of Las Vegas, and east of the Appalachian mountain-range, were swallowed. all of Great Britain, the Iberian Peninsula, and most of France were inundated, though Ireland remained mostly untouched. The Mediterranean and Caribbean flooded all their islands and shores. Much of Mexico, Central and South America were covered under millions of gallons of water. Africa was severed from the Middle East, almost wholly consumed. China's eastern edge became an abyssal underwater seascape, the Siberian tundra became a near-idyllic beach. Japan, untouched due to the eastward spread of the Pacific into America, negotiated for peace even as they formed the Strategic Self Defense Force to protect themselves._

_That, at least, is the official story given to the media by the United Nations, and from the media to the people of the world._

* * *

"That's what anyone will tell you about anything involving the government. They did it before Second Impact, and they've done it since. No matter how much has changed, I'm glad to know some things are still the same from my childhood."

"You're old enough to remember things before...Second Impact?"

"That's what NERV calls the meteoric disaster of 2001. I'm not sure what's implied, what the First Impact might be...although, if the event that wiped out the dinosaurs really was a meteor like a lot of people think, then I guess that might be it."

"That makes sense...what will we do when we reach NERV?"

"First, we'll run by my friend Ritsuko. She's the head of the Research Branch, and also our chief doctor. From there, it depends."

_She knows something, and she's not telling me._ He was irritated by the idea of secrecy when he already knew so little.

"Alright then. We'll see when we get there." The monotone, almost melancholic words struck a chord within Misato.

_It's like he doesn't even care. This is the first time he'll be seeing his father in three years, and he just...doesn't care?_

The earth around them trembled, machines groaning in protest.

"What's going on?"

"We might have to get out and start running."

* * *

"You're late."

"We got lost, Ritsuko! This is my second day here, I haven't memorized the layout!"

Another tremor.

"We have no time...Shinji Ikari, I presume? I'm Ritsuko Akagi. There are many things we need to talk about, but they can wait. For now, there is something I need you to do. Follow me." Curt and precise, no attempting to make any conversation with him that wasn't necessary.

Shinji appreciated that, and fell in line behind her. They entered into another room, expansive and smelling of...he wasn't sure what to think of the fact that the air smelled like fresh blood.

* * *

"Nothing is working! We're not even slowing it down!"

Gendo Ikari smirked, his burned hands bridged over his mouth. Soon, the UN military leaders would understand just how powerful they were. The Ancients were awakening; mortal man, all on its own, could do nothing. Fortunately, he had a slight advantage over most of humankind: Evangelion.

"All you have left are the N2 mines." He said, keeping the mockery out of his voice. "Would you really waste all the money it took to make them? The pilot has arrived, he will be ready for combat in short order."

"Not yet, Mr. Ikari." The first general declared. "We don't know that the bombs won't kill it. Fire away, boys!"

On the projected HUD screen, the UN Air Force dropped four N2 mines.

"Billions of dollars, all for naught."

Cernunnos, the lord of the wild, had awoken. He strode through the haze of smoke and light, unharmed, only seeming to become more savage as minutes passed. Thick, shaggy black hair fell to his shoulder blades. Wiry muscles propelled him with a wolf-like canter, the deer-horns atop his head shedding their velvet in a gruesome display. Dirt and dust stained his shirt and pants, seemingly made of ancient wool and burlap.

"Vice Commander Fuyutsuki, I trust you can handle things here? I have a pilot to greet."

"I assure you, sir, I have things in hand."

With that, Gendo stood and retreated to the elevator behind him; descending, his thoughts moved. What would make his son most receptive to piloting Unit-01? Rei was in no condition to battle, that was the reason he'd called Shinji to Tokyo-3 in the first place. What would...

He stepped out to the platform, leaving the elevator behind.

"Shinji."

"Father."

Both were cold, but neither was distant. They simply had no idea how to act around one another...just as Gendo had been with his father.

"I see you've matured in the last three years."

"Why did you call me here?" Shinji did not demand the answer. He never demanded anything.

"The world is threatened. At the moment, you are the one who can save it."

"Convenience, then?"

"No, actually. Inconvenience."

The longer they spoke, the onlookers realized, the more tense the situation would become.

"I do not have time for mind games or idle chatter, Shinji. Will you pilot the Evangelion, Unit-01, against the Wild God Cernunnos?"

"What happens if I don't?"

"All of Tokyo-3 will be destroyed, then Japan. The rest of the Ancients will begin to awaken, and the world will be crushed beneath them."

"I don't care about the world."

"What do you care about?"

"Nothing, not even myself."

"Then we are agreed."

Shinji looked right into his father's eyes, and nodded. "I am my father's son."

Gendo turned his back on the people below. "Get him in the entry plug. Cernunnos will reach Tokyo-3 in five minutes, or less."

"Yes, Commander Ikari." Ritsuko said.

* * *

His brother- and sister-gods would rise, soon. This world would be subjugated.

Where was he? These were not the forests of his homeland. This was not the earth he had walked in his life which was not.

These metal birds and turtles attacked him; they could do nothing to him, time having altered his body into one impervious to most assaults, but they were still an annoyance and a hindrance.

A sweep of his hand, a stomp of his foot, and they were crushed or scattered.

Home.

He had to find his home, and awaken the great father. That was his purpose. If he woke the father, he would be led home.

He could sense the elder being, to the southeast.

If the father could wait for him, then he would come.

* * *

"What is this?"

"It's LCL, which allows you to connect with the EVA. It's liquid, but it's oxygenated. You'll be able to breathe." Ritsuko answered.

"Alright then."

"Any questions?"

"How do I stop the...whatever it is?"

"From all the texts we have, Cernunnos has no weapons. However, it seems he has the ability to manifest natural fauna attributes into himself, so don't expect that to stay true. The EVA is designed for hand-to-hand combat, and you have what's called a 'progressive blade' in a sheath on your back that can extend up to five meters."

"So you're saying I have my hands, and a knife."

"More like a short sword, if you'd like to be technical. Your movement is also limited to the cord you'll be attached to, although you do have a five-minute backup reserve supply in the event that the cable is severed or otherwise disconnected."

"You're not exactly painting a hopeful picture, doctor."

"My job is to tell the facts, not beat around the bush." _My, but he doesn't seem to have any qualms about this. He really _is _his father's son._

Shinji entered the plug, which was then inserted into Unit-01.

"Sync level twenty-six percent and rising. No interference. All readings normal." A technician read out.

**"Are you ready, Shinji?" **Ritsuko's voice came in, loud and clear, over the comlink.

"Yes."

**"Launch!"**

* * *

"Sync at sixty-two percent. Flatlining."

"Without training?" Misato gawked. "Isn't that a bit strange?"

"Whatever it was that Commander Ikari had his son do, it's clearly beneficial. That, or it's something that we simply can't explain."

On-screen, Shinji moved Unit-01 out to the border of Tokyo-3 and waited for Cernunnos. The rain was hard, and smelled just as cool as it had before he'd entered NERV's headquarters.

* * *

_They sent me out here to face a god. A god of nature. A god of earth. What exactly does that mean, then, to be a god?_

_If gods are above men, like all the stories say, then what chance do I have?_

_I mustn't run away. My father needs me. I can't abandon him._

_What are men, to gods?_

_I was raised without belief in gods. I only believe in the human mind. I believe there are things I do not understand._

_I do not understand why I am here. I don't know why I was called here. Father said that it was out of inconvenience...does that mean someone else is supposed to be here?_

He saw the Ancient upon the horizon, and he knew fear. Bleeding horns, pointed and deadly, rose from the god's head. Wolf teeth and bear claws, a neck like a bull's and porcupine spines extending from his arm.

What hope had one young man against the Wild God? His eyes were frenzy, his fists were earthquakes, and each step he took sent an echo of dread throughout the world.

_I mustn't run away._

He opened its mouth.

_I mustn't run away._

Cernunnos roared, and Shinji screamed.

**"Get ahold of yourself!" **Misato yelled. **"Kill it!"**

"HOW?"

**"Like you would kill anything." **Gendo's voice came across the audio filter, sounding almost disappointed. **"Strike it until it cannot rise to be struck again."**

_I mustn't run away._

Cernunnos charged, one arm high and one arm low.

**"He is not strong, nor particularly fast. His only skill is in animalistic transformation. Use that against him. You have superior strength, and equal speed. Slay him."**

Shinji caught the first swing, then the second.

_I couldn't run away now, even if I wanted to._

Unit-01 smashed its head into Cernunnos once, then twice, then a third time. The god stumbled back, wounded and disoriented.

**"Strike."**

Shinji moved his hand, and Unit-01 launched a haymaker into its enemy's shoulder.

**"Again."**

This time, a hook into the god's intestines.

**"Break him." **Gendo ordered, but it was not to be.

Cernunnos caught the third swing with both hands, and began to twist at the robotic arm. Unit-01's left hand rose, attempting to choke the god, but the effort wasn't enough; Shinji cried out in pain, feeling as though his own arm had been shattered rather than his EVA's.

_Am I going to die? I've lost my good arm._

* * *

"Get Rei into Unit-00."

"Sir? She hasn't recovered from-"

"We can discuss the morality and the necessity of it at a later date. Clearly, the pilot of Unit-01 cannot be trusted to finish this on his own."

Within three minutes, Unit-00 was launched.

* * *

Shinji screamed as Cernunnos' claws ripped into Unit-01, rending metal apart.

_The blade...the blade! On my back!_

Shinji moved his arm, trying to get Unit-01 to reach its progressive blade. His movements were weak, though; his body was damaged. his EVA was damaged. If he was going to win, he would need to give everything that he had.

That was when he heard a quiet noise, barely audible over the beast-god's breathing and the pain inside his mind. Suddenly, another robotic arm was around Cernunnos' throat, and the king of the wild clawed at Shinji's mechanical savior with all of his might.

"Strike him now." The monotone voice came into his head, followed by an image of a girl with short blue hair and empty red eyes. "Draw your blade. Take revenge for your arm."

Something inside of him snapped.

_I don't need the blade._

Unit-01 rose, mouth open wide; its roar was a death knell for god and man alike. The rain began to look red, to his eyes.

Gripping the Wild God's head, he smashed his knee into his enemy's face. The bones broke audibly, individually. There was no more restraint.

His mouth clamped down upon Cernunnos' arm, cutting through muscle and bone, severing it completely.

The Wild God bellowed his rage, kicking out and shattering Unit-01's kneecap. Shinji responded by ripping open the god's ribcage, exposing all its organs and a red orb that pulsed with life energy.

He bit at the god-core, and nothing happened. He punched it, and recoiled at the feeling of punching a wall.

"The blade." Her voice came again. "You have to use your blade." Rei's, after all, was trapped in the god's back, as she used both arms to hold the Ancient up.

Shaking with fervor, Shinji began to laugh.

"And they called you a god." He crowed.

* * *

"He's gone insane!" Misato said, astonished.

"No. This is what happens to those who fight the gods." Gendo's expression, behind sunglasses and his bridged hands, was unreadable. "Rei will undoubtedly experience something similar, if only in a lesser dosage. Don't be too concerned with it. They will return to normal after a few days.

NERV's commander watched, and he waited.

* * *

"The wilderness can't help you now!" Shinji cried as his blade struck against the core. First it cracked, and then it widened. His blade hammered, striking again and again. Flames began to run along Cernunnos' beaten body, sparks soon joining them.

**"Get out of there! It's about to blow up!" **Misato yelled, but Shinji couldn't hear her over the pain, or the anger, or the simple battle-frenzy that he'd worked himself into. Instead, as Unit-00 retreated, he lifted the burning body to face himself and bit through its neck; instantly, the severed head no longer burned. The rain's fervor increased as the body dropped, exploding. Unit-01's detached arm flew away, into a building, but all that Shinji knew was that he held his foe's head by the hair.

Screaming in triumph, in unison with his EVA, he didn't even feel it as the explosion reached the entry plug and sent him into unconsciousness.


	2. To Feel A Ghost

**A little shorter than last time; my benchmark is 2K per chapter, so hitting 3K was something of a personal highlight.**

**Well, you've been waiting long enough. ****Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

**"The Wild God is dead."** A deep voice echoed from its monolith; SEELE spoke among themselves.

**"_'...and yea, the wilderness shall fall, and the severance of the head shall call brothers and sisters forth. Their wrath shall be mighty, their number shall be many. Against them ride the forces of mankind, who seek to find salvation from Ragnarok in the arms of creatures who they shall not understand. The elk who guard Yggdrasil shall fail, the Blind Eagle shall scream in his death throes as the triplicate goddess comes forth. The guardian of mankind will turn against his charges and swing the crusher down upon the blackened mountainside. As the many god-kings come forth to reign again, above them shall the lord of wisdom rule, loose fetters by his feet and black birds upon his shoulders. The Blind and the Unbreakable shall be sacrificed by man and beast alike, though great shall be the sorrow of the gods at his passing. The Great Winter shall come and be gone, only for the Child of Muspel to unleash their blaze upon the earth.'_ Directly taken from the Tome of Sorrows. Cernunnos was doomed to die, and only one more is certain to fall before Ragnarok." **The second voice was older, though lighter.

"Two more. The Blind and the Unbreakable are different gods. Baldr and Hodr are not prophecized to come for some time, however." Gendo's voice echoed, alone in the meeting room.

**"Which of the Children is of Muspel?"**

"Uncertain, as of yet. Just like most of the prophecies you've recovered or uncovered. They can't all be correct. Many of the passages in the Tome of Sorrows and the God's-helm Scrolls, as well as our other sources, contradict one another. The only true accords are that Cernunnos, Hodr and Baldr must fall, that Surtr's fire must be released, and the sun will be swallowed whole. Beyond that, we have no certainties to go on."

Gendo left the meeting, dispelling the noise with a single button's press.

"How long do you think you can appease them?" Fuyutsuki asked, half from concern and half from confusion. He, too, had studied his fair share of ancient texts.

"As long as is necessary. If mankind is to evolve, it cannot be done with Ancients running about."

"Have you gone to see your son, or Rei?"

"They are recovering well enough on their own. They do not need to see me."

"The soldiers look up to their commander. Even if Shinji cannot respect you, he will still follow you. He has not forgotten the face of his father."

"No, I suppose not...but he still needs to be quarantined, and his studied."

"He was not, and you know why. That would serve no purpose except to alienate him from you, and our cause."

"Then I will not be held responsible for whatever it is that the madness does within him until it burns itself out."

* * *

It had been two days. Two days of whirlwind life. Misato had taken him in, though she herself was still entirely unpacked...aside from a fridge that was stocked entirely with beer and leftover takeout food.

Apparently, Misato didn't care about keeping her culinary skills secret.

"It's Monday, you know. You have school."

Shinji looked up. "Oh. Yeah, I guess I do."

He stood up and left, just like that, ignoring the reheated pasta that was meant to be his breakfast. The Wild would provide.

* * *

Rei watched the boy leave with no small level of fascination.

_In the middle of the battle, he had...transformed. First he had been apathetic, doing his duty as a son would for his father. After Unit-01's arm had been taken, he had become terrified, a backlash from his high sync ratio with his Evangelion. Then, in her presence, he had become vicious beyond all his former capacity, to the point where he stayed to absorb an explosive force sheerly from a desire to desecrate his fallen foe's body. The god's heart had exploded, sending Unit-01 into a nearby building and knocking Shinji out. Unit-01, however, had continued to move thanks to the power of its pilot's subconcious, making it all the way back to its cage so that Shinji could be extracted._

_As he'd laid there, while others helped him onto a mobile bed to bring him into the hospital, she had watched him. His erratic breathing, his quivering eyelids and spasming fists, all hinted to the fact that something was clearly very wrong._

She followed him, though not closely, as they made their way to Tokyo-3's high school.

* * *

"We have a new student today...could you please introduce yourself?"

"My name is Shinji Ikari. I hope we can get along." He gave a short, forced smile, and took his seat near the back of the class.

Around the room, in hushed whispers, the other children began to speak.

"Do you think he could be..."

"No way!"

"Hey, Touji." Kensuke Aida looked to his friend, though his concern was masked with a disinterested tone. "You kept saying before class that your little sister got put into the hospital by the explosion, and you'd beat up the pilot if you met them. I'm putting my money on the new kid being that pilot."

"It is what it is, man." The basketball star huffed out. "I'll do what I need ta do. Shoot him a message, will ya?"

"S. Ikari: Are you the Evangelion pilot? -K. Aida"

"K. Aida: Who's asking? -S. Ikari"

Shinji looked around; back and to his left, by the windowsill and the classroom's corner, were a pair of boys. The blond one met his eyes and nodded.

"K. Aida: Yes. -S. Ikari"

Within seconds, the class was in an uproar. By the time their teacher managed to regain control of them, it was time to leave for the day.

The class filed out, except for Shinji, Rei, Kensuke and Touji.

"Hey, new kid." Touji said. "Kensuke and I have cleaning duty, but wait for me outside. I got a couple things I need to talk to you about."

* * *

"My little sister got hurt in the attack yesterday." Touji said, leaning against a post as Shinji stood opposite of him.

"In the explosion, after Cernunnos died?"

"Yeah. I can't really...accept that level of carelessness. Not where my family's concerned."

"I understand that. If I hadn't stayed to absorb most of the explosion, though, it would have been much worse. People got hurt...but nobody died, except for the enemy. If I'd left before the explosion, I guarantee you that people would have died."

"...I told myself that I was gonna beat up whoever was responsible for hurtin' my little sis, but I can't decide whether you're worth the effort, or whether I respect ya too much for almost sacrificing yerself."

"Do what you will, but...make it count."

Touji's roundhouse hurt, but the pain was nothing compared to Unit-01 losing its arm.

"Is that all?" There was a newfound fire in Shinji's eyes. Barely leashed, something within him hungered for greater bloodshed. "You must have more anger than that. Here, let me show you what it really feels like to be punched."

The blow was awkwardly placed, but powerful enough for that not to matter; Touji's right hand went to his throat, unable to breathe for a few seconds, and his collarbone was going to have a nasty bruise on it for the next few days.

"Come on. You have to be stronger than that." Shinji's tone was devoid of emotion, but somehow he still came across as admonishing. "You're not having doubts, are you? You can't fight with a clouded mind. Even if it's something as simple as, _'I mustn't run away,'_ you have to have a clear purpose."

Touji shook his head. "I know what I'm here for. One punch each...that was enough ta solve it. Take care a yerself, new kid."

The basketball star and his blond friend walked off, and Touji didn't look back.

"You could have hit harder." Rei said, coming out of the shadows; she'd hidden behind a nearby tree to see what happened, ready to step in if she needed to. "Why didn't you?"

"I didn't feel like it."

"...will you walk home with me? Before, it's always been...lonely."

"Sure." His eyes were calm again, if not kind.

Their walk was silent, but a shared silence was more comfortable than a solitary one.

* * *

"The Children will need to be ready, soon. If the stars, and the readings, are right, then a new Ancient will attack again in four days. Begin testing as soon as they get home." Gendo's gloved hands covered his mouth, sunglasses hiding his eyes, but his tone made the instructions quite clear.

"Yes, sir." Ritsuko said.

The test chamber held thirteen transparent cylinders, each one able to fill with LCL unto its brim; she was waiting for them when they returned.

"These tests are designed to help you with improving your sync with your EVA." She told Shinji.

He didn't need to be told why that was a good thing.

* * *

"That didn't bruise too badly, did it?"

"Nah. I can still play ball, so," Touji stopped talking to shoot the basketball, watching it go through the net without touching the rim, "no hard feelings, man."

"Alright then."

Dribble once, then twice. Shinji shot from the free-throw line, just as Touji had, and watched the ball bounce in off of the backboard.

"Solid form, man. Who taught ya ta play?"

"No one, really. I just pick things up a little easier than normal."

"Aight, let's get a game goin' or somethin'. Got nothing better ta do, right?"

"Sure."

"Five-man squads. Shinji, pick first or ball first?"

"Rei is on my team."

"Aight then, I got ball first. Kensuke!"

The other six children picked were eager to play, but from the beginning it was clear that Touji and Shinji were meant to face off against one another. They were the same general size, and all Touji's skill was matched by Shinji's effort in playing.

_Be aware of my surroundings. This is like extra training. _He told himself, not allowing for the inward grimace that he wanted to feel in his guts. _Let nothing obstruct my path. I have teammates for a reason._

He threw the ball back to Rei, beyond the three-point line, as she let a fader fly when a much larger boy tried to block. It rattled on the rim for a few tense moments before falling in.

"That's game...damn. Hard-fought, man. Ghost girl's pretty clutch in a tight spot."

Rei looked down and away at the mention of her moniker.

"She has a name, you know." Hikari, the class representative, said.

"It doesn't matter." Rei said, turning as she began to walk back to the school building.

Hikari shot Touji a dirty look as they all headed inside.

* * *

"Are they always like that to you? Like Touji was after the game?" Shinji asked while they walked back to NERV headquarters after school. It was a windy day, but the air seemed to bend around Rei. Her hair didn't stir, her skirt didn't swing.

"Not always. Most of the time, they just ignore me. That's why they call me a ghost."

"Hold up your hand for a second, would you?"

She did as he asked, and blushed when his hand touched hers.

"You're no ghost. You're a person, just like me. You're one of the Children, just like me."

Suddenly, from nowhere, a great gust hit them, and it would have sent Rei to the ground if Shinji hadn't grabbed her.

_He's so...strong..._

_I can barely hang on...how strong is this wind?_

Once the breeze ended, and Rei righted herself, they continued on their way.

* * *

"Mm...Kaji, when are we going to Japan?"

"We leave in two days, Asuka. Calm down, the other Children will still be there no matter when we arrive."

The teen scowled. "I know that, but still! An Ancient could attack, and they hog all the glory? I can't allow that!"

"If there's anything I learned from my father, Asuka...there is no such thing as 'glory' in war. There is only pain. Believe me, if I were able to pilot the Evangelion then none of you Children would ever be put in the line of fire. The fate of the world shouldn't have to rest on the shoulders of three kids, no matter how close to legal adulthood you are."

"But you can't, and it _is _up to us. Up to me! I'll show them both just how great I am!"

Kaji groaned. It wasn't even noon yet, and he already felt the need for whiskey and a pack of cigarettes.

_Damn the Norns...why did I have to be a babysitter, of all things?_


	3. Approach of the Sea King

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"Thank you for your assistance, sir."

"NERV is paying the big bucks to haul that hunk of plate metal to Japan. Long as the money keep flowing, you could...no, best not to give you ideas."

"Probably." Kaji said, glancing toward the door. Asuka was probably waiting for him, right outside. He didn't have very many moments of peace when she was around. "Do you mind if I light a cigarette?"

"Only if you mind sharing the lighter. I could use a cigar, myself."

"A rich man's choice, then. I can't afford much on a child-watching salary, even with NERV."

"I'm not terribly well off, though. Just enough to afford some of the finer pleasures left in life."

The men continued their banter for a long time, smoking and laughing.

* * *

"Did you hear? There's supposed to be another pilot coming over. This one's from Germany!" Kensuke said, somewhere between factual statement and ecstatic celebration.

"I wonder what they're like?" Shinji offered up, for the sake of conversation.

"You mean...you don't know?"

"Nope."

"Weird. I woulda thought they told ya everything ya needed ta know." Touji said, slowly losing his faith in NERV as he became better friends with Shinji.

"They don't really tell me anything. I just train so that I can be a better pilot." Shinji leveled a glance at Rei, who was too intent on her schoolwork to notice. "We both do."

"That's...that's kinda fucked up, man."

"Language, Touji."

"What, ya want me ta start speakin' Latin? We're all eighteen here, Kensuke, calm the hell down."

Class passed uneventfully, until the PA system cut on. "Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, report to the front office for pickup."

"Showtime." Kensuke grinned. "Whatever's going on, go get them!"

"Give 'em hell, man." Touji gave a quick smile. "An' whatever it is...no mistakes this time, yeah?"

"No mistakes."

He looked to Rei, and the unquenchable fight was back in his eyes.

"Let's go."

* * *

"We suspect that an Ancient may attack the Second Child and her convoy on their way to Tokyo-3." Misato spoke plainly. "While I have faith in Asuka, I also believe it's better to be cautious than brave. To that end, Commander Ikari has given leave for me to use an old NERV cargo stasis-carrier to transport the two of you and your Evangelion units and meet our German colleagues at sea."

"The bad news is, you'll have to travel inside the Evangelion units. Rei, Unit-00 has been outfitted for aquatic warfare in the event that an Ancient strikes. Shinji, we're holding out hope that you won't actually need to be deployed unless we have no choice or the Ancient shows up near the coast." Ritsuko, ever factual. "The LCL will be able to stream nutrients into you through the pores of your skin. At worst, you should only have to worry about boredom throughout your trip."

"Is it actually that simple?" Shinji knew just how wrong things could go in the field, facing an Ancient. He'd lived it, felt terror when Cernunnos' war scream had reached his ears.

"It should be. Just hope that, whatever it is, it can't fly."

Ah. _There_ it was, that sense of discomfort he'd been searching for. How careless of him to almost avoid obtaining it.

Knowing his luck, it would absolutely be able to fly.

* * *

"What do you think will happen?" Rei was behind him, the both of them changing into their plugsuits.

"Among the Ancients, Njordr was the king of winds and seas. If we face one of them, it will be him."

"And do you think we will?"

"I'm not sure. The blood of the Allfather passed to all living things. It may be that the Ancients seek us out because those of us born after Second Impact hold a greater portion of his power within us...or, more specifically, that we who are the Children possess that greater power."

It didn't really answer his question, but he would have felt intrusive to ask any more on that subject; Cernunnos, Njordr...the names felt so foreign and incorrect on his tongue, and yet they were so _right_ at the same time.

"Do you feel any different, compared to how you did before the first attack?"

"Not really. I spent very little time in combat. You were there before, and after. He had a much greater effect on you."

"Well then, if...Njordr...does show up, it's likely you'll get the full force of him. You're the one equipped for underwater battles."

There was a little sadness in his eyes, though Rei couldn't see it. Almost in sync, they pressed the buttons on their left wrists that shrank the plugsuits down to a form-fitting size.

"You know, the tutor my father assigned to me shared a piece of military trivia with me. He hoped I'd never need it, but told he told me," Shinji tilted his head down, beginning his imitation of a veteran's voice, "_'back when I served in the Air Force, whenever one of us went on a flyby and there was a chance we might not make it back, he'd go to his buddies or his C.O. and he'd give them a handshake. Except, he'd pass off his tags, so that if they didn't hear back from him they at least had something to give to the family.' _Now, I know we don't have tags, but...we're facing a god. Cernunnos almost killed me, and since he's the first enemy we faced then it's likely that he's also the...weakest."

They walked now, side by side and with matching pace, to their EVA. "He did not kill you, though. That is what matters."

* * *

"Is that so? Well, I'm not sure he'll be thrilled about it, but he'll understand. Yes, I'll tell Asuka."

"Tell me what?"

Kaji looked to her, holding up one finger as a sign that he'd tell her after he finished his conversation.

"Alright then. I've been looking forward to seeing you again, Misato. You couldn't wait to meet me at some bar or another in Tokyo-3? I guess we haven't changed much after all."

Asuka heard a series of high-pitched sounds that she interpreted as this Misato woman's yelling.

"Calm down, dragon!" He laughed. "Sheesh, any louder and you'd have burned my head off through the phone...and don't take that as a challenge. Yeah. I'll see you when you get here."

He flipped the phone closed, and let out a deep sigh.

"The First and Third Children are on their way to us, by plane. They think we might be attacked, so they equipped Unit-00 with aquatic armor to prepare for the worst-case scenario. My girlfriend from college, NERV's acting military commander, is with them. I'm not certain, but I'm guessing that her old roommate...the head of the research division...is coming too. They always have liked to spring these little get-togethers on me at the last possible moment, when it's impossible to refuse." He laughed. "Though, I do think it's dangerous, having the three division heads clustered together in one place. It's like inviting an N2 mine to get dropped on us."

"Don't say that!" Asuka chided him. "You don't know what's been woven!"

"That I don't." Kaji responded, standing up. "Such things weren't meant for mortals to know...but something tells me that the weave might be tearing, that even the gods don't know what will come. That's why they're rising against us now. We are at the edge of the tapestry, and the human hands brushing against the web are breaking it. One seam after another, stitch by stitch, a future that seemed so bright during my childhood is turning more bleak and uncertain by the day."

He left the room, giving Asuka the space she needed to process what he'd said; he had a captain to meet with, again. Ill news of unwanted guests, and he was the one who had to deliver that news.

Once again, he asked the Norns why he should be the one chosen for this lot in life.

He took the silence following his plea as the gods mocking him for thinking they might provide some answer to him.

* * *

"This is NERV Alpha requesting permission to land. Come in, UN actual." Misato's voice carried through the plane, though not by design; she didn't realize she'd been on loudspeaker the entire time as well as radio.

**"Confirmed, NERV Alpha."**

Misato brought the aircraft down slowly.

"Rock...paper...scissors. Damn. How do you keep winning?" Shinji sighed, exasperated. They'd been playing for almost two hours, and Rei had won the last hundred and seventeen games.

"There's a formula to it." She'd figured it out about an hour in, but threw enough losses in to make it seem like she was predicting him rather than letting him in on the fact that she'd analyzed a supposed game of chance.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"No. I enjoy the winning streak, though. We're being brought down, and the entry plugs will be ejected...we should go greet the Second Child."

Within fifteen minutes, they were free to do just that.

She strutted down the deck in her pale yellow sundress, as if she held within her all the pride that neither of the other Children had. Her hair was fire, her eyes a reflection of the seas around them; cold and blue and deep, hiding scars that only the eldest gods could know. All that egoism faded into a sweet smile, however, when she stood before them at last.

"Guten tag!" She giggled. "I've heard so much about you two! Have you eaten?"

At the mention of food, Shinji's eyes widened a bit. "Not since we boarded. We had to travel in the LCL."

Asuka squeezed her eyes shut in pity, but only for a moment. "Gross...but I guess this means we can talk over lunch?"

Shinji smiled. "Sure."

* * *

The Children sat in their own booth, while Kaji and Misato were at a table on the opposite side of the room.

"They seem to be getting along well." Kaji said. "I was worried she might...make a bad impression. She doesn't care what others think about her, usually."

"How's babysitting been treating you?"

"She hasn't stopped trying to flirt with me since she turned fourteen."

Misato had to laugh at that. "I guess we all fall for your type at some age or another."

"Well, of course? Who can resist these dashing good looks, this roguish charm? This wit, sharper than the edge of a knife's blade?"

"Is that how you think we see it?" She teased, and he laughed with her.

He raised his beer up. "To the past, and the future."

"I can drink to that."

Meanwhile, among the Children, Asuka was needling Shinji for all that he had on the details of the first Ancient attack.

"You mean they just...sent you in? Without training? Who _does _that, especially when they had the First Child on hand?"

"Well, it's not like the EVA are actually difficult to operate once you're told how. It's like moving your own body. They said it was strange that I had a sixty-two percent sync, though."

Asuka's eyes widened far enough that Shinji was almost convinced her sockets would widen as well, and her eyes would fall out.

"What the hell? With no training? Durch die Götter meiner Väter!"

"Please speak more softly." Rei said, though she had steeled herself from cringing. "Even if it's not that busy, it's still..."

"Sorry. I just...I can't believe that. That's almost as high as my rate is now!"

"It's slightly above mine."

Shinji just stayed quiet, waiting for someone to ask him something, but neither of the young women ever got the chance.

**"Attention all personnel, unidentified vessel is rising from beneath us. It will reach the surface in T-minus one hour."**

Misato and Kaji stood. "That's your cue, kids." The woman declared. "All of you, get in your EVA. This is going to be...difficult. Hopefully, it's the only naval battle we'll face."

Asuka bounded off, tugging both of her compatriots by their arms.

"A bit forceful, isn't she?"

"She has a...dominant personality. It's funny, each of them has what the other two lack."

"Hm?"

"Asuka is bold and prideful. Maybe not a natural leader, but she can strongarm her way through most things. Rei possesses a certain calm that neither Shinji or Asuka can hold on to. Shinji seems to leave the decision-making to others, and after the incident with the Wild God..."

"He's gained a sort of duality. One moment he's shy, even anxious, but in the next he'll be ready to act."

"I can't begin to imagine the sort of force they'll become as they keep fighting against the gods."


	4. Battle At Sea: I

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

It was a sword-day, he decided. A blood-day.

His brother had been slain; the aftershock had awoken him, and he waited patiently to announce his return. Now, at last, there were...things...which he could strike. False gods were there, and he would strike them down in vengeance.

His was the salt-blood, the rime-blood, the old blood. His was the sea breeze, the gulf breeze, the tide breeze. He was Njordr, and he would have them dead. Oh, but they would cry out for the mercy of his blade before the end. They would scream deliciously as the brine soaked their flesh unto their bones. Their eyes wide with terror, shivering in fear and morbid anticipation.

He was the hunter. He was the god of sea and sky, and he would slaughter these fools who dared to challenge him in all his wondrous might.

* * *

**_Why do you fight?_**

_So I can make others like me._

**_Why do you want that?_**

_So that I can gain acceptance._

**_You crave acceptance?_**

_Yes._

**_You are the world around you, Shinji MacGendo. You are the primal force. You are not meant to be chained, not meant to be commanded. Can you not feel it? The conflict inside you. You seek freedom, not kindness. By bowing to the whims of others, you hope to simply scrape by. This cannot do, by any measure._**

_Then what needs to be done?_

**_You must fight for those things you believe in, not what others would have you fight for. Stay true to yourself._**

_I have nothing like that._

**_Of course you do, you fool._**

_Who are you, to call me a fool? Who do you think you are? _What _do you think you are?_

**_Me? I am no longer anything more than an scáth spiorad, the shadow of a spirit...just as all who came before me, and who may come after you. This earth has had many masters, in its time. It seems that you and your people, not so different from what my own once were, are to be next in that line of succession._**

_You're...Cernunnos. You are, aren't you._

**_That was my name, a long time ago. Or, at least, it was one of them. I was also known as Den Vilda. Now, however, I am nothing more than a memory inside your soul and your mind. Those of us who walk the path of gods and demons...it is a long road. A hard road. We take from what we slay, and in the end of it all we become no more than that which we first fought with such determination._**

_And?_

**_Beware, MacGendo. My brother approaches._**

* * *

The wind howled, brutal in its force, and Rei was thankful that Unit-00 was sturdier than her thin, frail body; Shinji, and even Asuka, were nowhere near her. The ocean churned, beginning to rise and fall chaotically. There was a certain beauty to that, she thought. There was a charm about the ocean in its chaos, its capricious nature. It made her feel at peace.

As a massive man...or was he simply a great formation of mist and frost, in man's image? She didn't know. Part of her didn't want to know.

His scream, in a language far older than anything within her ken, was a challenge which could not be denied. Reddened eyes of mist and ocean-water bored into the sky's abyss with wordless fury.

**"Rei, go!" **Misato yelled, and Unit-00 leapt. The Type-01 equipment on its back, arms, and feet would allow her to move through the water without impairment, save that she was still limited to the umbilical cord.

She moved to throw her hands around his throat, but passed right through his form.

"What?"

That was all the time she had to speak before Unit-00 crashed into the water, sinking; she began to swim.

**"Damn!"**

* * *

_**Njordr is the lord of wind and water. Until he moves to strike, he's entirely untouchable, and he's far more dangerous underwater. Your friend is likely to die if she stays there, and the deeper she goes...**_

_Why are you telling me this?_

**_I exist to perpetuate the cycle of ascension and obliteration. My knowledge is yours, MacGendo...but only so long as you continue to learn. Eventually, once my brethren and I have taught you all which we know, we will truly fade. From there, we are only a chain of souls which stretches back to the dawn of existence. Adam, Eve, the Elder and Outer Gods, the Aesir and the Tuatha Dé_****_ Danann. The Titans, the Primordials and Forerunners. The angels and demons, the monsters and men. The blood of countless warriors flows through your existence. The World Tree is not so small as some of your kind might have liked to believe before my brother's hammer struck Midgaard from cap to cap and slaughtered most of them. Life creates itself anew to be better than before. One day, you and your comrades will be consumed in body and mind by future warriors who have become stronger than you could ever hope to become. Then, it will be your turn to guide them up towards even greater heights._**

_That's not very comforting._

**_I never said it would be, MacGendo. Very few things in life ever will be._**

* * *

"What the hell? He's right there!" Asuka yelled.

"He's the Rime God." Shinji said. "Wind and water."

**"That was a fast catch, Shinji. Is there anything else?" **Misato asked.

"As long as he's not attacking, he shouldn't be able to get hit...based on what we just saw, anyway. It stands to reason that he'd be even more deadly in the water, since that's his central domain." Conveniently, he could pass this off as his own observation.

"Well then," Asuka reasoned, "that means...Rei is a goner."

"Not yet." The blue-haired woman's voice came through, a small image of her face appearing on the HUD of Units 01 and 02. "We fight. We kill. We take. History, and the future, hinges on the three of us. Alive. Do what needs to be done."

Frost began to form at the bases of the UN ships, stark crystals which emanated an unnatural cold. Njordr howled once more, his head moving to look out at Unit-02 before dropping down to stare through the ocean, where he could sense Unit-00 moving about beneath him.

"A decoy." Asuka concluded. "She needs a decoy. Someone...helpless against his attacks. Then, when he moves in-"

**"That's when we can strike."**

"I'll do it!" The redhead declared with a confident smirk, her eyes alight. "What better way to prove myself?"

"You don't need to prove anything." Shinji countered. "You're one of us. You're one of the Children."

* * *

"Are you certain it was wise to send them out? They will be facing Njordr out on the open sea. That's incredibly foolish..."

"They will survive." Gendo countered. "SEELE may believe in the prophecies and in their presumed fate, but they do not know what I know. They did not see what I saw. To stare into Mimisbrunnr, to drink from it, the price I paid was worth all that...and I would have payed more were it asked of me."

"They are still children. Their minds will not be as strong as they otherwise could be. You are forcing them."

"We woke, and now must ride, the tiger. Gods must be strong."

* * *

"I'm going!" Asuka yelled. "You had your fun, Shinji!" Unit-02 launched into the sky, even as its armor began to chill and small patches of frost began to coat it.

"You are the man among us." Rei said to him. "You might be the king..."

"But watch the queens conquer!" Asuka drew her fist back, even though she expected to go right through the Rime God and into the sea.

That all changed as his form was turned to ice, and a blade of focused wind along with it; Unit-02 caught on that strip, cut right in the breastplate on the right side. Njordr appeared behind her, and a tidal wave rose up. It shoved Asuka down to the base of the wind-sword, and capsized three of the UN ships in the process.

Her scream made the Ancient smile, and Shinji froze.

There was an image within the mind of the male Child: a great wolf, bound with chains which were unbreakable. Massive, shaggy and feral, he waited to be unleashed. He waited for his ties to fall, for the final battle to begin. Pale yellow teeth pulled back into a snarl as he bit down, grinding against the metal links within his mouth. Its thick coat, blacker than the souls of those who held him captive, was matted with the weight of millennia.

He raised his head and howled into the gales Njordr unleashed, furious beyond all measure.

Rei, too, felt the call of her comrade's blood. From the depths she charged, as their foe had done moments earlier, progressive blade in hand. The Rime God, his boot still planted firmly upon Unit-02's back, was unable to react in time to avoid that leg's severance. The limb transformed into water as Njordr bled furiously, vanishing and then reappearing to see Unit-00 vanish back inside the water. His leg was reformed, but the bleeding refused to cease.

"Let me free!" Shinji screamed. "Let me fight! I'll kill him! I'll KILL HIM!"

The restraints in the plane shook, but held true. He was bound. Trapped.

Helpless, unable to aid the other Children even as they needed him.

Njordr would kill them both. The seas held no mercy, and the winds were indiscriminate about where they struck.

Railing against the locks which held him, he cried out once again. His eyes shining with fury amid the LCL inside the entry plug, he spilled uncountable and unintelligible expletives at everyone and everything.

* * *

"He's losing control." Kaji noted.

"We can't afford to let him go out and fight. Rei and Asuka need to be the ones to handle this...we can't afford to lose all three of them, even though just one would be too catastrophic to consider." Misato dropped her head, eyes closing.

All sound had been cut off from the intercom, be it Asuka's screaming or Shinji's curses.

"The web is woven. You are their commander, but they are comrades. Asuka has only known those two for a few short hours, but they are already closer than she ever was with me. It happens when you live, breathe and fight for the same cause. Asuka, already, is willing to die for those two. Shinji can't bear to see her in pain...and then, Rei keeps the mission in mind. There will be time for her to feel later. She is the most efficient of them, though not the strongest."

With that, he went silent as they began watching the screen once again.

"Asuka's sync rate...it's rising!"

* * *

Unit-02 kicked with Asuka, shattering the air which held her, and she stood upon the sideways form she'd attacked moments ago.

"Scheißkerl!" She growled, drawing her progressive blade. "Fight me!"

Njordr laughed, and a sheet of ice coated the sea. It froze the remaining ships in place, and was solid enough for Asuka to stand on. The Rime God drew his sword, touching down upon the frost-ground, and the fire-haired pilot of Unit-02 realized that her idea might not have been as well-planned as she thought.

"Keep him busy, just for a few moments. I'll start to cut the ice. When he slips up, when he falls, you must kill him." Rei spoke. "Together, we can do what none could do alone." Closing the private link, she switched to the HQ comm-line.

"Commander Katsuragi, drop Shinji on the northern edge of the ice sheet in T-minus five minutes. Start the count when I stop speaking. If all goes well, he won't be needed to finish things up, but..."

**"Just what are you planning, Rei?"** Nonetheless, five minutes began counting down.

"Victory." The piercing red stare gave no room for consideration of other plans.

With that, she cut the link.

She had work to do.

* * *

_Life without breath, with a grip cold as death...killing him may not be enough._

Unit-00's progressive blade began to dig into the ice above her, and she crushed the specks of frost that gathered on her hands.


	5. Battle At Sea: II

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

Asuka shouted, even as she couldn't breathe; Njordr outclassed her physically, and had greater reach with his blade. The gaping hole in Unit-02's chest didn't particularly help her case either, given that she felt that pain herself. They hadn't traded more than ten blows, but she knew that he was more than a match for her.

_There's no way I'm dying here! Not to this scheißkerl! I can't...I can't! No!_

He broke through her guard, his blade cutting into Unit-02's collarbone. Mist was beginning to fill the area, and the ice sheet expanded.

Suffering more with each passing moment, as Njordr methodically struck regardless of whether or not she could block, she let out a scream with air she didn't know she had in her lungs. There was no denying it now: she _would _be dying here. And then, after her, the other Children. Shinji might escape, though...they'd taken Unit-01 and lifted it back into the sky. He could regroup in Tokyo-3 and have a little time to grow stronger.

Time.

She had to buy them time. Stall the Rime God, give them a chance to rescue Rei as well. Make them get out.

One of Kaji's phrases came to mind, albeit unbidden.

_Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather._

The feather would fall with the wind, as it willed. Until then, there was a mountain that she needed to move.

His sword caught on her left arm, underneath the plating, and she brought her right hand down. The blade, cold as it was, broke beneath the strain...but she still fell, burned by the cold and the pain. She tried to move away from Njordr's boot, but Unit-02 took a kick right in the chest, where she'd been pierced earlier.

Asuka's world was pain.

Dimly, she could hear Shinji screaming as he tried to break free...hadn't she been fighting to save him from this fate? She could swear that she had. That she was. That she would.

Njordr tilted her head up to look him in the eye, and his next kick took her in the throat.

Unit-00 was there, then, leaping from the water and sailing past; her blade took Njordr in the biceps, and dug a thin line across his chest. Just as quickly, she was back in the water and preparing for her next attack.

* * *

"Son of a bitch! Commander, get me down there! Let me fight!"

**"Rei has a plan. We're launching you in...three minutes, unless she gives an early signal. Hold out for three minutes."**

Three minutes? She may as well have asked for eternity. They were dying down there. Asuka more than Rei, but the wind-and-water Ancient wouldn't be taken by surprise in any more of Rei's attacks. He was stronger and faster, and he had powers they didn't.

_**Powers.**_

_What?_

**_He is the god of the sea, but you are the prince of the wilds now. If you fight hard enough for control, animals will listen to you over both my brother's willpower and their own minds._**

_That's...that's so cheesy though. That's so cheap._

_**Is that what someone says when another person is trying so hard to win against the odds that they're forced to resort to lucky shots and hidden talents?**  
_

_Point taken, but you could have mentioned this earlier._

**_I could have, but it wasn't important at the time. I'm an instructor, not a guide. I'm not going to walk you down the path. You're the one who needs to put all the effort in._**

_What use is a teacher who isn't willing to teach?_

Still, Shinji listened. _Show me how._

_**In the water...**_

* * *

As Rei swam, she noticed something strange: the bladefish in the area were starting to swarm, swirling around. They were a mutated form of swordfish from the events following Second Impact, with elongated and sandpaper-skinned blades for their eponymous sword-like appendages.

"That's mine, Rei! The...there are some benefits to killing gods!" He couldn't keep the fear out of his voice, accidentally making the comm-link between all three Children instead of just himself and Rei.

"Are you alright?"

"No! The two of you are down there, and this is all I can do!"

"Let me show you where they need to be."

His HUD changed to view what Rei did, through Unit-00's eyes. One by one, the bladefish peeled off from their school and moved to the points where Rei directed.

"Are you sure this will work? Whatever this is?"

"No."

_Well, _Shinji thought to himself, _at least she's honest._

"When I cut him, he had plenty of time to dodge or to become incorporeal. He didn't. My assumption is that, on whatever passes for land, he's as solid as you or I." Her monotone was starting to calm him down. "The bladefish will spear his feet and keep him locked in place. Asuka and I will kill him then, one from the front and one from the back. You will drop and shatter this sheet of ice, sending his body to the depths so that none of us are hurt in the explosion. I've been marking the bottom of it with holes for the last three minutes." That being said, she cut a final one before springing back to the depths.

"Now, Shinji."

The bladefish surged up as one, and still more came from behind Rei to leap through the water. Blood fled from Njordr's feet as though they were faucets, and he found he could not move; there were too many of them. Some came to strike him in the back and the knees, forcing him to kneel. He was of the sea, and its creatures had turned against him by a means beyond his ken.

His pained cry was a moan among the wind, if not the wind itself. He sought freedom, but it would only be found one way.

"Asuka..."

The redhead struggled to her hands and knees, progressive blade still clutched in her right hand with a vise-grip.

"Zur Hölle fahren, you frozen son of a pig!"

Unit-00 pumped her legs with Rei, practically flying through the water, coming up and then smashing down to plunge her blade into Njordr's spine.

Asuka stabbed, coming to her knees, and continued. Head, throat, chest, gut...it didn't matter. She wanted him dead. She needed him dead.

* * *

"_'Far over shore of rime-made cold, to ocean deep and sea-bed old...he went away, one misty day, sent by the child of fires yet cold.'_" Gendo shut his book, staring out into the blackness that was the majority of his office. "The first lines of Njordr's final stanza in the Tome of Sorrows."

"Followed by, _'the Rime was fighting with icy might, the winds were moaning against the flight. The ice turned red, then cracked for dead, and to the depths plunged wind-sea's might.' _The translation may not be the best, but it's clear that the Rime God is fated to fall."

* * *

Finally, Asuka struck the Ancient in his heart, and a crack appeared. She brought the blade down harder, and harder, until the god-core was completely and utterly broken.

As the body began to freeze over, Shinji was released from his bindings and began his descent. Like a Valkyrie, come to claim the soul of the dead warrior, his feet plunged into Njordr's back and sent him down through the ice.

"Ah, shit! My feet are getting covered!"

Rei grabbed one arm, and Asuka wrapped her hands around Unit-01's torso, pulling hard enough to break Shinji free of the ice while the Rime God's body continued to sink.

Seconds later, the explosion sent hurricane winds up, cutting into Unit-00, and a great wave crashed into Unit-02 from the side. Unit-01 remained untouched, shielded by his fellow Children, but he felt a chill run through his body as the backlash from Njordr's death began to fade.

The two young women slumped into unconsciousness, and Shinji roared before he joined them in the darkness.

* * *

"What is this place?" Asuka cried out.

**This is the darkness beneath the world. **

The answer came unbidden, unspoken, and they felt it within their minds.

"Where are we?" Rei asked, her red eyes calculating.

**This is the death-land, the world of walking dreams.**

"Who are you?" Shinji tried to stay calm. This voice...where did he know it from? It was a voice he knew, and yet did not. It was old. It was powerful.

**Not who. Not I. This land is one. Its people are one. All exist as one. All lives and dies as one. All which existed knows this land. All which does not exist, those know this land as well. You knew, and will know, but do not. You know so much, but retain so little. It is touching. This land is sympathetic.**

"And why are we here?"

**This land knows not, for such things are hidden from the knowledge of this land. Beware, children of Hvedrungr. The sins of the father pass to the sons, and retribution to the daughters. Beware the guardian of the world. Beware the breath of the beautiful. Beware thy father, and beware the Allfather. Though land and sea and sky are thy domains, beware, for there are yet those who can challenge thee.**

"I have no father."

"My father is our leader."

"My father is gone."

**Beware thy father, kinsmen of Lopt. Beware, as well, that this land is fading. Now, do as you will.**

* * *

"Did...did either of you feel that?" Shinji held a hand to his head, slouching on a cot.

"We were all there." Rei replied, still laying on her back. "The question is, where are we now?"

"We're on one of the ships." Asuka said, leaning into the wall with her legs hanging off the bed. "I don't know which one, though. We would probably be in Tokyo-3 by now if they'd taken us by plane."

"What did it mean, though?" Shinji wondered, scratching his cheek.

"It called itself 'the world of walking dreams,' didn't it?" Asuka said, wondering how that could fit in.

"All things that once lived, all things that are not yet alive." Rei pieced the words together. "They exist there. Not what is, but what was. What will be."

Asuka's hand went to her chest, suddenly; phantom pain, an ache her mind felt but that her body showed no sign of. She knew nothing was there, just as with her arm and throat, but the reflex was too fast to resist.

"That goes away after a day or two." Shinji comforted her. "It happened to me, too, when 01 lost its arm."

"We should go back." Rei said. "We need to learn more."

"Not today we don't!" Asuka hissed.

"We don't even know how, though." Shinji said.

"Yes we do. We found our way once, and we can find it again." Rei layed back down, eyes looking to the ceiling as she began to drift back to sleep.

"Come on, Shinji. Let's go get some...whatever meal they're serving."

Wordlessly, the Third Child got up to follow his fellow pilot.

Inside of Rei's mind, a voice older than the winds could be heard.

_**"Were it so easy, Rei Nonedotter..."**_

* * *

"We'll be pulling into Tokyo-2's harbor in two days." Kaji told them. He and Misato sat across from their younger charges while they ate breakfast. "From there, the EVA will be shipped by train, and we'll take a jet to Tokyo-3."

Asuka was only half-listening, intent on devouring her third plate of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Shinji told himself to mention the conversation to Rei, whenever she woke up.

Until then, he resolved, he'd just have to eat what was on his plate.

_And, _he thought to himself as both Misato and Asuka paused to pick at his cheeks with napkins, while Kaji laughed at his misfortune, _deal with my fair share of the mother hens._


	6. Of Sea And Sky And Forge

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

She sang...and as her voice moved, calling out to all those who could not hear her voice, a great wind sang with her. Her eyes seemed fuller as she sang now, great red orbs of unreachable depth, pupils like basalt that could lock onto anything and paralyze it with one glance. Her hair, once a light blue, was noticeably several shades closer to white than it had been before.

"What am I?" She cried out into a gentle breeze, contained within her room. "I'm a monster. I'm the child of monsters. No parents, no family. Nothing which is distinctly mine. There is nothing for me here, in the world of men and demons."

The air caressed her cheek as tears began to fall, brushing them away until her sadness faded.

She moved from her bed, at last, and began to take in the extent of just what she could do.

She was the mistress of the winds, who called to and was answered by chill currents of air.

"I'm a monster...made to fight other monsters." She hiccuped, feeling pressure behind her closed eyelids. "Made to kill other monsters."

Her fists clenched, but she reined in the next batch of tears before they could fall. "Even to...Commander Ikari...I'm no more than a tool, aren't I? He wants me to use this...for him."

_Shinji...Asuka. They're the only two I have. The only ones I can trust, aren't they?_

**_You can trust me as well, Nonedotter. I now exist to serve those who slew me, just as those I killed did the same. Your connection to the death-land is stronger than the other two; your raw power is the least among the three of your kith, but your abilities make up for that. You are the one not blinded by pride or fear, who sees what must be done and attempts it. You are the wind, you are wild and free. The wind has no attachments, it has been everywhere and seen everything. It will always return, but so too must it always leave. Such are your emotions, your thoughts, your actions...or, if not now, then they will come to be so. I was not always as in the moments I last lived._**

_Then what do I do?_

**_Gods must be strong, Nonedotter. You will become the best that we can make you. You will view the world with eyes unclouded by hate, or rage, or envy. You will know the earth for what it is, and your brethren will rule with you from land and sea and sky. Until I have taught you all I can about yourself, and your dominion over the winds...until then, you may still be slain. I must go now; learn as you will._**

As the Ancient's voice faded from her mind, she remembered what she had been doing; singing always pacified her, no matter how she had felt before she started. It gave her clarity...no, it gave her _sanity. _Within the fortress of her mind, the winds began to rise, and her voice rose with them.

"Zankoku na kami no you ni..."

* * *

Asuka had turned the shower's heat to its maximum, but still felt no burn from the water. It was completely at the perfect temperature, but she needed pain. She needed to feel something. Rubbing the gathered condensation off from her hand-mirror, she looked at her reflection for the first time since before the other Children had arrived on the ship.

Her ears looked a little sharper, the tops and the earlobes seeming to draw into points rather than flow smoothly. Her eyes appeared slightly larger as well, and then she realized that she hadn't blinked in the entire time she'd been awake.

"What's _wrong _with me?" The words flew from her throat, high-pitched and almost screaming. She was glad no one was nearby; that would only have drawn attention...and, in that moment, that was the _last _thing she needed.

_**Nothing is wrong, Jamesdotter. I am Njordr, and your inheritance was half my power, its dominion split between you and the child of no man.**_

"Who is-"

_**You do not have to speak aloud, child. Think to yourself, and I will answer.**_

_Who is James? What are you implying?_

**_Ah...looking through your memories, from those words you gave, it's clear. He died before you were old enough to truly remember...and only your mother was left to take care of you, until the accident with Unit-02. She never told you your father's name, did she?_**

_My father?_

**_I am not the Allfather, nor the Norns. I can only tell you what the winds of the past, and the tides of moons long gone, can bring to me. His name was James Slae'im. His face..._**

Within her mind, waters were moved, constructing themselves into an image of a man in his prime. His hair was brown, denoted by the brackish hues, though he carried the recessive red that her mother had. It curled in locks and tangles, forming an afro of considerable size, framing his broad forehead and thick brows. His bright eyes, like water reflecting off of ice, showed no mercy, but also promised kindness. Sharp cheekbones angled down to a square, stony jaw, thick lips parting to show teeth that looked more suited to a wolf than a man. His beard was red, the same as her hair, and she couldn't help but feel safe in the presence of this...image. This shadow of what once was, what could have been.

_**He was a good man to the creatures of the sea, as well as those of the sky. His death was a loss for them as well.**_

_Why did he die?_

**_Some things are hidden, even from the shark and the eagle. That question, I cannot answer._**

_Why am I like this?_

**_You take from what you slay. It is the cycle that you live in, that the world...and, for truth, the whole of the Tree of Life...live in. Conquest after conquest, strength after strength. Yggdrasil has been creating warriors since time immemorial, long before most were even aware that it existed whatsoever. You are the latest in this chain, and it seems that you may be the last. The stars are moving. Ragnarok comes. You are the oceans, you will plumb this world to the depths before its end..._**

_What does that mean, 'I am the oceans?' Rei was the one who spent the battle underwater._

**_Rei Nonedotter inherited control over the wind, by my passing. Your domain is the sea...and, to a lesser extent, many sources of water. If you feel that what happened was strange, or reversed, then I have no words of comfort. All is as the Norns have woven, even my death, and the deaths yet to come. In concordance with your gifts, Shinji Gendoson can influence nature; that is, he can manifest life where once nothing could grow, and his own nature was changed by Cernunnos' death. As the rest of the gods approach, you will only grow stronger. You must grow stronger, if you hope to protect what little family you have left._**

_I have no family._

**_Don't lie to me, girl, and don't lie to yourself. You know you view them as your brother and your sister. That is what they are, what they represent...what you, too, represent. What does a family do?_**

She had no answer.

She wanted no answer.

_Leave me alone._

The water stung with painful heat as it splashed against her skin, but she endured it.

She always endured, no matter what. Being without a father, her mother's descent into depression-fueled insanity, the strain of being raised as a prodigy and an EVA pilot from a young age. The laundry list of tests they performed on her, most of them painful, pushing her body and her mind to the edge of their capacities.

Life was suffering. Death was release. Pain was an intermediary between the two.

She had been ready to die, she knew. She hadn't wanted it, but she had accepted it; when you know that you're going to die anyway, there is a certain freedom in being able to do whatever needs to be done.

She didn't like the suffering. She didn't like the pain. She wasn't ready to die.

What was left for her, then?

As her skin began to feel leathery to the touch, and the heat no longer stung like a bed of coals upon her back, the answer came to her: she existed to fight, to kill her enemies. She fought to protect Shinji and Rei, even as they would do the same for her. She would tear the other gods limb from limb, would squeeze them dry of every drop of blood within their bodies, and when at last they were no more than corpses piled beneath her feet, she would scream her name into the endless void of nothingness which existed for her from that point on in her life.

Oh, certainly, there were those gods which she wouldn't be able to kill on her own; Njordr had been proof of that. In those cases she was the Serpent Knight, with the strength to sacrifice what was necessary in order for Shinji or Rei to ascertain victory.

She would bear that burden for them, for a future guided by mankind alone; without gods, humans would be free...not that it would stop her from swearing by their names, or prevent others from observing related holidays. Some habits died far, far harder than others. Those that had been ingrained into civilization for centuries?

Those might be even harder to kill than the gods she warred against.

As she stopped the flow of water and stepped out of the shower, laughing at that thought while drying herself off, her hand went to her back; her skin had completely returned to normal, entirely unburned despite the pain she clearly remembered. Unblinking, her hands went to her ears...thinned, angled, soft-pointed ears. Inhuman ears. Had she moved her fingers lower, she would have found the gill-slits beneath.

She wasn't laughing anymore.

* * *

"Yeah, sis. Crazy, innit? I never woulda pegged him fer that kinda guy either."

Touji was visiting his little sister in the hospital, and held her unconscious hand in both of his own as he spoke to her. Kensuke was waiting outside; they were going over to the blond's house, once this visit was over, to study for their English test tomorrow.

Touji didn't see much point in the symbolism present in F. Scott Fitzgerald's _The Great Gatsby_, but he went along with it anyway. School wasn't fun, but it gave him a place to play sports and to hang out with Kensuke...and, in his own words, "lowkey, make sure no bad guys start gunnin' after Hikari."

"He's a good guy though, ya know. He put ya in here, but...some days, I think yer probably safer in here than out there with the rest of us. Yer friends drop by the house every so often, wantin' news or hopin' they'll be the first ones to see ya again. It kinda sucks to always be the bearer of bad news, ya hear? If ya won't wake up for dad, or even your big bro, then ya should at least consider doin' it for yer friends."

He stood and bowed, kissing her forehead. Giving her hand a final squeeze, he couldn't help but smile.

"Sweet dreams, sis...an' think about what I said, yeah?"

After two hours of studying, Touji gave up; he knew he was going to fail the test, there was no point in trying to avoid it. Thanking his friend for the effort they'd put in together, because Kensuke had needed the review, he left.

Decades ago, before Second Impact, the Suzuhara family had been smiths. Touji's father was the one to show him the craft, as he had been shown by his own father, and Touji had taken to it with all the ease of a turtle heading out to sea. Instead of lifting weights or doing cardio exercises, Touji's workout was at the forge...not that his father had let him in very often, as his talent always seemed to be swordmaking.

The elder Suzuhara maintained that swords were evil creations; axes could be used to chop down trees, bows could be used to hunt, spears were little more than repurposed farming implements...but the sword only had one purpose: killing.

Even so, Touji had only ever made them. All his attempts to create anything else fell flat, marred by numerous imperfections. His swords, however, were of far higher quality. No matter what kind he made, they were always...stronger, he felt, than most others. More durable.

_Just like the guy who makes 'em_, he joked to himself.

For the first time in months, he knew where he was headed when he got home. He didn't know why, and he didn't know how he knew, but there would be no rest for him tonight. Flame and steel were calling him, and he would answer.


	7. Return to Tokyo-3

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

Blood rose to his cheeks, already burning with the heat from the forge. His hammer struck down, flattening the bar of metal once again; this process would take far more time than he was used to, clearly. He wasn't used to forging this type of blade.

A zweihander, massive and virtually unwieldable by anyone without strength like his own. Last night, he hadn't managed to forge it fully...nor perfectly. He'd melted the entire thing down and begun again; that would be the process tonight as well. This was a labor that would eclipse all his previous work, and he would make no more after it was finished.

He had a feeling that it would take him quite some time to complete it, let alone be satisfied. That was the nature of his non-professional smithing: uncountable failed attempts, practice runs...and then, at last, a finished product which he could be proud of.

In any event, these attempts were necessary. Never before had he attempted to make a blade so large. He'd need to build up the stamina to make the entire thing in one sitting, no matter how long that might take or how many times he failed.

He didn't know why he was driven to this task. He was answering to no call, there was no one urging him unto this end. He simply did as he was told, made to do this by a force which he could not explain.

All that Touji understood was that this undertaking was the most important of his life. It had all led up to this, and it would end when he finally made a blade which he could truly call his own.

* * *

"She'll be doing _what?" _He nearly spewed his drink across the table in surprise, on top of almost choking on the food in his throat.

"Asuka is moving in with us, Shinji. You heard me the first time. Do you have a problem with that?"

His right eye and brow twitched in sync, giving an image reminiscent of getting sand in only that one eye. "No."

Truthfully, Shinji didn't particularly want to live with both women. The events after Cernunnos' death had been a blur, and he hadn't really had a say in whether or not Misato would take him in. The purple-haired commander was already enough of a mother hen as it was; he didn't need Asuka's angry "kindnesses" doubling up that front in his face.

Still, it might mean that Misato would get her act together and learn to cook properly.

Shinji didn't know what to pray to, given that he was an enemy of the very gods who were meant to answer prayers, but he prayed regardless.

He needed something to live on that wasn't ramen or takeout, and if need be then he would beg to the Allfather in order to get it.

The Wild God's hollow laughter echoed throughout his mind, but he heard no words following it...and yet, he could guess the message: if this was the greatest inconvenience he faced in life, then he had nothing to worry about.

_Fuck off._

Still no response.

Angry now, Shinji closed his eyes and delved within his mind.

_Where are you, you bastard?_

Emptiness greeted him, raw darkness upon all sides. A primal void, and he was no more than the light of a single candle amid infinity.

**You've found your way back to this land, then. Congratulations, o Father to the Race of Wolves. Now, you may truly begin your ascension...but it is only the beginning.**

_**"You have arrived at last."**_Cernunnos' voice echoed. _**"The women beat you to it...though it's not your fault that my abilities require a bit more teaching than movement of air or water, or that your connection to this land is more tenuous than theirs. It is the price for masculinity."**_

_"There are enough prices for that already." _Shinji growled, the light in his eyes giving forth a new sort of burn. _"Get to the point."_

**_"While the change in your nature was an immediate effect, a final parting from one I slew in ancient times, you also inherited the ability to transform various parts of your body. When you come here, you will learn the animals of the world that was, and the world that is. When you know an animal, you are that animal. There is a limit to the changes that can be made, but you will not need to worry about that...yet."_**

In the waking world, Kaji nudged the younger man with his elbow.

Startled, Shinji's eyes opened; he found that, in his visit to the death-land, his body had moved to the same posture which his father always assumed: hands bridged beneath his nose, head tilted forward, and with his posture otherwise perfect.

"When do we dock?"

"Two hours. I would tell you to pack your bags, but..."

He and Rei had been shipped inside their EVA. He had spent two days without a toothbrush. Granted, he had killed a god and had almost watched his comrades be slaughtered. No matter how he looked at it, it could have been far worse. He certainly liked being alive, even if his particular lot in life wasn't particularly enviable. It was better than being a blood-stained smear beneath the heel of one god or another, or his father.

Yes, they had been able to provide him with mouthwash.

No, it wasn't the same, and his teeth still felt disgusting every time he ran his tongue over them.

"I'm going for a walk."

He stood, pushing his chair back in, and left.

* * *

"Asuka, are you alright?"

She hadn't eaten since yesterday, and they were close to docking. He was worried for her.

With no response, inwardly wondering just what it was about people not answering him today, he called out again.

"Leave me alone." Her voice was tired...small, even. A strange description for a voice, but it seemed as if it had shrunk. It might have just been the door, though, muffling her.

"Not until I've seen you. We're pulling into port in about two hours. Do you want me to help you get your things together?"

According to Kaji, she acted as though she might literally die if she left a single one of her things behind...never mind that they could be shipped in from Germany by plane, far faster than a sea voyage could ever bring them. If that was the case, then he held no doubt that she'd need help packing.

"I said, leave me alone."

"I want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." Her reply was bitter, even in her throat.

"That's not very convincing."

Idly, Shinji noted that there was a spider in the corner of the doorframe.

He refused to wince as it swung inward, crushing the arachnid; instead, he looked at Asuka.

"You've seen some shit." He almost laughed. She seemed incredibly tired.

Had she not slept, these past two nights? He was getting more worried.

"Are you happy now, asshole? Leave me al-"

His hug caught her by surprise, and to an extent Shinji was somewhat unaware of it; he hadn't told his body to move, it just _had. _

"You don't have to be alone anymore." The wilderness within him bloomed. "Rei and I...we're your family now. We're your brother and sister. We're here to help you."

The punch to his spine wasn't wholly unexpected, but he did wonder who'd taught her to hit like that.

He wanted them to teach him.

"Just how much of a glutton for punishment are you?" She hissed. "I told you to leave!"

Suddenly, staring at her face, it clicked. "Your eyes."

She drew back, and Shinji moved a hand to the doorframe in order to steady himself. "You're not blinking. You've got covers over your eyes."

She looked down. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. That nobody would notice."

At the angle her head was bent, it was impossible not to notice her ears as well.

"It's not like I knew you for very long before the changes happened. You're still Asuka to me."

He didn't know what else to do as she sank to the floor and began to cry, so he put his arms around her as a way to ground her to reality.

* * *

"Ah, Tokyo-2. It's been a long time." Kaji grinned. "And it's been about as long since we've all been in one place together, huh?"

He hugged Ritsuko, and the scientist smiled.

"We all went out for drinks after we graduated from the university." Misato remembered. "After that..."

"The very next day, I got shipped out to Germany. Not a terrible fate, but it kept me away."

"And the women of Japan rejoiced as one." Ritsuko countered, and Kaji couldn't help but laugh.

It was just like old times, he thought. His ego shining more brightly than the sun had, even before Second Impact, and the two of them beating it down into a size they believed more manageable. The only problem was, his ego could never be contained like that.

Yes...it was just like twelve years ago, right before they'd graduated from Tokyo-2's university.

That thought made him smile on the inside, as well as the outside.

"We should get going. I'm sure Commander Ikari won't be too pleased if we just stand around talking...and the Children need to get home. I'm sure that Shinji and Rei have missed wearing real clothes."

_He has no idea. _Though they didn't know it, they'd thought the words in sync.

The fact of the matter, however, was that Shinji missed his music most of all.

The Children boarded in silence, and Shinji somehow managed to sit between Rei and Asuka. Never mind that there were _plenty_ of unoccupied seats on the jet, they had to sit together as one entity for some reason unknown to him.

Women.

* * *

It was fun to see Shinji like this, Rei mused. Perhaps it wasn't very nice, but seeing the fighting spirit in his eyes melt towards confusion, then to downright embarrassment...she looked at Asuka and smiled briefly. Giving a yawn that was only half-forced, she laid her head down on Shinji's lap as her legs curled up to her chest.

The oceans inside Asuka's head bubbled with mirth, seeing the Third Child's face go red. He was too polite, too non-confrontational, to actually do anything about it.

How had Rei gone after this before her?

In the end, of course, it didn't matter. With a yawn that was entirely too real, she sank to rest her head on the boy's shoulder.

* * *

"They're torturing the poor guy." Kaji frowned.

"That sounds like a personal problem." Misato countered. "Or you're just jealous that the three of them effectively reverse how we act."

"I am not jealous."

"Apparently, your son-in-law has more game than you've ever managed to muster in your life." Misato teased him.

"What the hell do you mean, _son-in-law?" _

"You're effectively Asuka's father, and Misato has taken the role of Shinji's mother." Ritsuko laughed. "Though I don't exactly condone that she's pushing them into an imaginary relationship, even if it's just to make fun of you, Kaji."

"Well, at least _someone _on this plane has some common sense."

"Thank you. How was your stay in Germany?"

"Twelve years of beer and sauerkraut."

"That sounds...lovely." They all knew that last word was a lie.

"Have either of you seen 'sauerkraut' spelled out? It looks like a made-up word. At least one of those vowels shouldn't be there."

Misato hung her head. "All I know is that I don't want to taste it. I'll take the beer, though."

"What, to wash down those microwave meals you used to live off of?"

Kaji looked to the blonde scientist across from him. "She doesn't...still...live off of those, does she? Even with Shinji in her house?"

"I would tell you she doesn't, but that would make me a liar."

The man sighed.

Women.


	8. To Take A Faerie's Air

**...seven chapters, and only two reviews? Come on, I know I'm better than _that._**

**Also, the person who unfollowed this story after that last chapter: I know who you are and I won't say anything name-wise, but I'm laughing pretty hard at you bc your profile has literally nothing. Your name, and that's _it._**

**For the record, when Gendo mentions "Niflheim," that's the equivalent to Terminal Dogma in canon.**

**Now, with that out of the way, let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"It is a Monday, you know. You have school." Misato said as they began their descent into the Geofront.

"The school day is over." Rei answered. "We'd be going to empty buildings. If the only cost of this war against the gods is our education, then it's not a price worth thinking about before the action would be made. I don't need to understand calculus to bring down an Ancient."

Once they reached the ground, Kaji split off from them. "Sorry, but I've got something for our supreme overlord."

When none of them laughed, the man could only sigh. "The world will appreciate my humor one day."

"The only one who's ever laughed at your jokes is you, and maybe Asuka before she learned not to put up with it."

"One day."

He walked off, in an entirely separate direction from the apartments where NERV's staff was housed.

"Asuka, I know you were told already, but you'll be living with Shinji and myself. We're this way."

After five minutes of walking, Ritsuko left. Her apartment was in a different section, even though they were all connected by hallways and elevators and the like. That left only Misato and the Children.

"Just a little longer."

* * *

"Touji? Kensuke?" Shinji gaped.

"We, uh..."

"We didn't know when ya were comin' back, an' I needed ta drop off a couple a things for my ma anyway, so...welcome back, ya know?"

"We were about to leave anyway." Kensuke added. "Sorry for the disturbance."

"No, it's fine!" Misato smiled. "I'm glad Shinji's made friends."

"Hey, Rei!" Touji called out to the First Child, who was walking down the hall to her own room; at his voice, she turned.

"Yes?"

"You okay? Yer lookin' kinda pale...er, paler than usual, an'...I dunno. Sorry."

"I'm fine, thank you." Her smile was small, soft, genuine. Distinctly like Rei, who seemed to seek the peak of femininity.

"So who are these two?" Asuka looked at them quizzically.

"Friends of mine, from school. The blond is Kensuke, and-"

"Touji Suzuhara. Nice ta meet ya."

* * *

"It was just where you said it would be, Commander." Kaji handed a small, round package to Gendo Ikari.

"Good. I trust that you didn't have too much difficulty in taking it?"

"Not at all, sir. I spent the days after Second Impact stealing all kinds of food to keep myself alive, though I'm not too proud of that...one small package was child's play. I'd planned for much greater difficulty, truth be told."

"This is the only thing I will ask of you that cannot be achieved within our Headquarters...though there is one final thing I must ask of you before your duties can resume. I trust your medical skills are still in excellent condition?"

Kaji had never wanted to be a doctor, let alone a surgeon, but living on the streets surrounded by the dying had made a student out of him; he'd pulled bullets and sewn the wounds, he'd amputated mangled limbs and cauterized them...no, he was no doctor, but he was a battlefield medic if there ever was such a thing.

Sometimes, in his dreams, he could still hear his older brother's dying screams, the final request to be put out of his misery rather than suffer for another few minutes.

"What is it that you need of me?"

Gendo's hands fell to grab ahold of the item which Kaji had given him, and the devilish smirk on the Ikari elder's face didn't bode well for Kaji in the slightest. "Follow me to Niflheim."

Wordlessly, Kaji fell in behind NERV's leader.

* * *

"You know...when they said you shipped all of your things, I didn't actually expect for you to have shipped _all of your things._"

"I couldn't decide what to leave behind, so I just...brought it all with me. Most of it is clothes, they'll store easily enough."

Shinji, for his part, only sighed. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

"Dinner is in a couple hours, you'll just need to do it again."

"I don't care."

His quarters on the UN ship hadn't had a mirror, and when he first saw his reflection he was a bit concerned. The beard that had grown on his face wasn't incredibly thick, but it was still more than it should have been after only three days without a razor.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of that fact, but he decided that shaving would need to wait until tomorrow; he had, after all, only said that he was brushing his teeth.

Asuka's scream was high enough to make his jaw clench when it hit him, and he could only assume that she'd discovered the contents of the fridge.

Wonderful.

It wasn't his problem yet, he decided, so he would take his sweet time and make sure to brush even more thoroughly than he usually did.

_I wonder if I could grow new teeth. _He thought to himself. _Can I grow new teeth?_

Feeling his presence in the living world fade, he made sure to sit down.

_**"I don't know, I never tried. While you're here, though-"**_

Shinji severed his connection to the death-land, and walked out.

Cernunnos had nothing to worry about; he would return later tonight, to learn whatever it was that the Wild God could offer him.

They had ramen for dinner that night, with a little cayenne peeper thrown in so that it wasn't as bland as it would have been otherwise.

* * *

"What do you mean, I'll be going to school? I have a degree from New Berlin University!"

"It'll give you a chance to make friends. If you feel that strongly about it, you can go speak to Commander Ikari about it and have him remove you from Tokyo-3's high school."

Asuka came close to screaming.

"You'll want to hurry, class starts in half an hour."

"Tobt hündin!" The redhead swore under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought."

* * *

It was a rare thing, to see all three of the Children running as fast as they could to get to school on time. Shinji, the tallest and strongest of them, was a few paces ahead, clearing whole sections of the sidewalk in a single bound. Rei and Asuka were right behind him, though the blue-haired Child was closer.

"Two minutes until the bell!" He called back to them, looking at his watch. The school was in sight, but there was no way they would-

A gust of wind blew as Rei let Asuka pass her, and then the wind carried her forward; latching on to the redhead's arm, and doing the same to Shinji, she almost seemed to fly as one with the wind.

One street crossed. Two streets crossed. They were in the school's parking lot. "Minute and thirty." Rei hissed, drained.

"You're gonna need to tell us how you did that..."

"Later."

* * *

"How long until the next Ancient appears?"

"Uncertain, as of yet. The Elder Cycle doesn't give many clues as to when, or how, the Ancients will appear. All it does is give some context as to their order."

"That's not very encouraging."

"No, it's not, but we have made this chasm. Now we must leap across it, or die in the attempt."

Gendo Ikari would never let it be said that he was a man of kind or hopeful words.

All those words had died with his wife, more than a decade ago. There was no light that could pierce the veil of shadows within his soul, not unless she was brought back by a will greater than that of all the gods and men of earth.

He believed that he possessed such mental fortitude.

He would take her body back, and restore the spark of life that had been lost within her heart.

He would restore his world and its order.

* * *

"So...wait...if ya gotta degree, from a university...why the hell are ya here?"

Touji, Shinji and Asuka were standing outside the school; Kensuke and Rei had clean-up duty.

"That's what I said! And then she goes and says, if I have a problem with it, to take it to the Commander!"

"That's...that's somethin', I tell ya what. An' ya gotta live with her, too?"

"Yeah, both of us." Shinji said.

"Okay now, man, this ain't fair. Ya gotta leave _some _girls for the rest of us ta get."

Asuka's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, Suzuhara?"

"I said," Touji never was one to back down from a challenge, no matter how foolish it might have been, "Shinji's been here for...a week an' a half, right? Technically? An' in that time, he's gotten close ta the Ghost Girl, he lives with a purple-haired bombshell, an' now he comes back an' we find out he's gotta foreign girl livin' with him too? What the hell's his secret?"

"It's not like that, Touji. I didn't really get a choice in where I lived. After the first Ancient attacked, and I killed him...I don't remember very much from those two days. I was supposed to live on my own, but Commander Katsuragi volunteered to have me live with her. It's not as good as you'd think, she only has microwave meals and beer in her fridge."

"It's true." Asuka was still ready and willing to punch the boy's lights out, but refrained. "Nothing else."

"Depressing."

"You have no idea." Shinji said. "Maybe now that there's two of us, we can force her to cook actual meals, but..."

"As if! It'd be easier to get Rei to live with us and Misato to live by herself."

"Do what?" Rei walked out of the building, towards the trio. "I don't think that would be a popular decision."

"You can't possibly be a worse roommate. I cannot _imagine _that anyone could be worse."

Rei shook her head. "We should leave soon, if you want to make it home in time to do your homework."

Asuka sighed. "Fine."

"See you later, Touji."

"Catch ya 'round, Shinji. Try not ta let the two of 'em dominate ya...if ya catch the drift."

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Three voices yelled as one.

"Jeez, lighten up, will ya? Anyway, my dad's probably gonna wonder where I'm at if I don't get home soon, so I'd better split too."

Basketball in one hand, Touji began to dribble as he began his walk home.

He never saw the eyes that looked to him with kindness and affection, from high above in the schoolroom's window, but perhaps he didn't need to. Whether or not they would openly state it, Touji and Hikari had reached an understanding with one another.

Now, once again, the ball was in his court. How long would it take him? How long would she have to wait?

* * *

"So how _did _you do that, this morning?"

"I told the wind to move, and I was moved. Just the same as when you told the bladefish to swim, and they swam. I have more direct access to my abilities than either of you. Animals exist only in certain places, water is in many things but is rarely in large enough quantity to list...but the air is everywhere that land and sea are not. Though it may change, at the moment I am the strongest."

Her trademark smile in place, she tilted her head slightly to the side, and something felt...wrong. In the blink of an eye, that was gone, and Rei resumed the walk home.

_Tempt not the Norns to weave your web, lest they send the moon beneath the sea and the sun into the earth._


	9. A Fourth Rises

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.  
**

* * *

"Shinji, are you okay?" Asuka poked at her fellow pilot's arm.

"Class is over, ya need ta wake him up an' get goin'."

"I don't see you going anywhere, Suzuhara."

"I'm his friend too, ya kraut-eating-" Touji didn't get to finish his sentence, Kensuke's hand muffling the rest of the words.

"Touji, no picking fights." The blond admonished, removing his hand.

"Jackass."

Kensuke shrugged. "Better than a guy who picks fights he can't win."

All the while, Shinji remained completely still.

* * *

_**"Your power is natural dominion, MacGendo. Creatures, plant life...down to the bacteria within your body, you can control them on a whim."**_

_"Tell me something I don't know."_

**_"What you did against Njordr is the most basic facet of your current abilities. You do not merely have the ability to command flora and fauna, but to change them, to make them grow. Your power thrives on change within the natural world. A seed becomes a sapling, and then a full-fledged tree. A genome splits, and reproduces."_**

Shinji listened, fully intent on learning all he could. It might prove to be vital in the next battle, and he certainly didn't have anything else worth doing.

_**"Metamorphosis. Mutation. Evolution. At the height of your power, perhaps you and your fellow...pilots...can succeed where others have before you. The creation of life, of a species. Ragnarok has come. It arrived with the passing of the Fimbulvetr, and the prophecies all say that some few must survive to create a new world of peace and freedom. It began with the Elder Gods, at the dawn of time and space, and it may end with you. Just as the Elder Gods created the Primordials, who created the Titans, who created the Forerunners, who created the Ancients...so did we create humanity through Adam and Eve. When they failed in their appointed task, we cast them from the blessed lands of their forefathers' halls and made a race in their image. Forever would they know the shame set upon them for their disgrace. By that token, in the end of all things, you may choose afterwards to continue the cycle of creation and destruction that universal existence is based upon."**_

History lesson aside, it made no sense to him; still, he accepted the words. If others had come before the Ancients, then it stood to reason that they had done what he, Rei and Asuka were now attempting.

_"Teach me."_

_**_"Later, MacGendo. Your friends are waiting."_**_

As he faded back into consciousness, blinking his eyes at the sensation of being poked in the arm, he barely restrained the growl in his throat. For the last several days, he'd gotten nowhere with honing his abilities, due to interruption or Cernunnos' own long-winded way of speaking.

"Huh?"

"Finally!" Asuka cheered for herself. "You fell asleep, idiot, and we couldn't wake you up!"

"Well, I'm awake now. Let's go."

Shaking off the ache in his legs when he stood, Shinji waved goodbye to Touji and Kensuke. "Wait, where's Rei?"

"She had to go to the bathroom."

"I'm right here." Rei's voice came from behind them, in the hallway. Turning, the two pilots knocked their heads together and fell back.

Shinji rubbed his jaw, which had made contact with Asuka's forehead; the redhead put a string of swears together, all in German.

"Don't _do _that!"

"Do what?" Rei was puzzled.

"Don't sneak up behind us." Shinji clarified.

"It was not my intention. You were ready to go, so I came. Would you rather leave me behind, so that I could catch up?"

"I guess not." He said. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"The web was woven long before the Ancients came. Now that Ragnarok approaches, it burns from front and back. The blind eagle is laughing at us all...the three-in-one is rising. Has the Fourth Child been located yet?"

"Yes, sir. We have his file here."

Gendo opened it, seeing the photograph and biopsy.

"Excellent. Deliver the news tomorrow. Whatever terms he wants, agree. We do not have the time to play a bartering game."

"Yes, Commander."

"I leave the details to you, then, miss Katsuragi. Good evening."

Misato bowed and left the office, a deep sense of disturbance settling into her mind.

_He didn't ask about Shinji once. He'd already gotten the report from Kaji, he didn't need it from me. Does he have no regard for his only son?_

She wasn't sure she really wanted to know the answer to that question.

She was afraid, however, that she already knew.

Her footsteps echoing down the hallway as she walked towards the elevator, her growing discomfort with Gendo Ikari's style of leadership weighed heavily on her thoughts.

_He claims he's doing what's best for humanity, but...if they're supposed to be our greatest hope, then why doesn't he treat them that way? They deserve more than silent acknowledgement...Shinji in particular, especially from his own father._

The man was all about his business, and he never had time for his only child...just like another man who had been in Misato's life, many years ago.

The sins of the past were doomed to repetition by those who would not learn from them.

Opening her door, she found all three Children doing their homework. At a second glance, however, she realized that Asuka was already done. The redhead correcting the mistakes of the other two, explaining the problems in detail.

Perhaps it really _was _a poorly thought-out decision to send her back to high school. Benefits of cultural immersion aside, she probably found it demeaning, and she was clearly bored without a challenge immediately in front of her. However, she couldn't be put in another division of NERV, and she couldn't be placed in a university without being several hours away from Tokyo-3. On top of that, with the school video footage she'd seen, Asuka seemed to be making friends with some of the people in her class.

_The gods are in their golden realm, all's right with the world..._

She debated whether or not to say something when she got home.

* * *

The school's PA system turned on without warning. "Touji Suzuhara to the principal's office. Touji Suzuhara to the principal's office."

"Aw, man, what'd I do?"

"What _haven't _you done, Touji?" Kensuke's words brought laughter to a few students around him. "...okay, but for real, what did you do?"

"I don't know!"

He left the room, silently praying. The other students talked quietly among themselves, and Asuka moved beside Hikari.

"Don't worry."

"What?"

"He's not in trouble. He can't be, right? We'd know."

The brunette's shoulders loosened up as she took a deep breath, and fell as she exhaled. "I guess you're right."

It was no secret that in the few days she'd been present, Asuka hadn't exactly forged a friendship with Touji. Not quite the opposite, but they clashed quite often...and with her advanced learning, she always came out on top in their arguments.

Not that Touji would ever back down from her challenges.

Of course, where would the fun be if nobody tried to stand in her way? It was just another way to prove herself. Rei was better at using her power, and Shinji was probably a better fighter, but she had more book-smarts than both of them combined.

Now, she just had to sit and take Hikari's mind away from idle thoughts.

In opposite corners, Shinji and Rei watched her, and one another.

Rei knew that Shinji had been training, trying to keep pace with her. It was in his nature, as the saying went. She knew that he would likely overtake her, in time, but for now she could likely beat him back if they actually came to blows. Unless he'd grown far more in power than she'd previously seen, control of the bladefish against Njordr nonwithstanding, she truly did believe that. He was a soldier who would strike where he was told. She was a strategist, she set the battlefield so he could win. That was how they worked, at the moment. Only time, and their respective efforts, could change that.

* * *

"Yer kiddin' me, right? Ya gotta be jokin' here. I'm a blacksmith's kid, ain't no way I can play in the big leagues like the others."

"No, I'm absolutely serious. Do you have any terms or conditions for joining? I'm sure Commander Ikari would be more than willing to agree."

Touji was silent for several moments, his eyes closed and his hands folded in his lap. "Yeah."

"Hm?"

"Got two conditions for ya. First, ya gotta get my sis the best treatment ya have. NERV staff, not the Tokyo-3 shmucks. They're good, they keep her alive, but they're feedin' offa my pa like wolves on deer. I want her healed, or as good as ya can do for as long as ya can do it, or no dice. The other thing...if I'm gonna live in the Geofront, I'm gonna need a forge, and all the tools, and a hell of a lot of iron. That's my offer. We gotta deal?"

"Yes."

"Well...shit. I didn't think ya'd agree to that."

"Fair is fair, Touji Suzuhara."

"Alright, alright, we got the terms and all. What now?"

"Tomorrow, we're moving your sister to the NERV hospital inside of the Geofront. You, and ostensibly your father, will move as well; he's already a steelworker for NERV, it should be no trouble to transfer him closer to the operation site."

"Y'all really scoped me out, huh? Damn."

"Our eyes and ears are everywhere."

Touji had decided, at this point, that Shinji had told the truth; there was no way he would _willingly _live with someone who was this distant, this...business-oriented, no matter how attractive she was.

"Alright. What now?"

"You go back to class. From there, it's your decision. They'll all find out eventually, but Unit-03 won't arrive from the Arizona base for at least two more weeks."

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

He stood and left the room, and Misato was alone with the school's principal.

"Thank you, sir. I'm sorry I had to take him out of class, but..."

"No, I understand. We're all NERV employees, after all, Commander Katsuragi."

"Still, I apologize. Please, have a pleasant rest of your day."

* * *

"Have the MAGI determined where the third will rise?"

"Yes, sir. The ruins of Belfast, in Ireland." After Second Impact, Ireland had seen its chance, annexing Northern Ireland and cutting all ties with the former United Kingdom. Doctor Akagi delivered the news without pause, her face neutral.

"Excellent. Ship the Children out tomorrow."

"Sir?" One of the few times she'd displayed shock, particularly to his face.

"Inform Commander Katsuragi."

She was silent for a moment, absorbing the information. "Yes, sir."

Fuyutsuki stepped out from the shadows, having hidden behind a bookcase, after the Research Branch's head was gone from the room.

"SEELE wants to talk with you."

"Of course they do. Their sole purpose is to nag and needle me even further than the United Nations and the Self-Defense Force already manage."

"That's not a very kind thing to say about our benefactors."

"I am not a kind man."

_Clearly, but I didn't need you to tell me that. Your son would have sufficed. _Fuyutsuki's rebuttal went unsaid.

As Gendo headed towards the back room to trade verbal blows with his monolithic opponents, Fuyutsuki moved towards the door, and the elevator outside.

At least that ill-fated mission to Antarctica, all those years ago, hadn't been for nothing.


	10. A Past And Future Secret

**Sorry for my absence; I was writing, and then I couldn't figure out how to get anything else down, and now...I've done it. You don't want to hear about the bullshit that's gone on in my life since then, I don't think. So, that having been said?**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.  
**

* * *

_He carried no weapon but a great, shining sword on his back, cold steel come to life with the brightness of a hundred suns. The Trickster had taken his mentor, but still remained his love and his family. On his back was one, and beneath his arm the other, so that he could not stop to fight without endangering either. He wore no true armor, not in the way that the others did; his armor was flame, his armor was fury. A black-and-grey plug suit, with a blue midsection, was all the protection he needed._

_An Evangelion lay on the ground, beheaded, its entry plug discarded as he'd made his escape. He held the greatest endurance, even more than the Fenris Wolf, surviving the fall to the ground after breaking free of the entry plug._

_He'd found them, panicking, as the masses hurtled through the streets. There was no safe haven. There would be no shelter here._

_Then, before him, stood Freyr. Weaponless, without armor, only a war-horn at his side, the Ancient waited patiently. The Allfather had marched out, all his host behind him for the final assault, and Freyr had come as the sacrificial lamb, for he was Surtr, the greatest of the sons of Muspel. Around him, he saw the other Evangelion slump down, out of power...but they were little more than a formality, the Ancients shrinking their size to do battle with now-smaller opponents._

_That their readied size had been so massive spoke only of the size of those who had come before these gods, who they called the Forerunners. Oh, what he would give to have the chance to challenge one of them!_

_Gently did he lay the two on slabs of rock behind him, fallen from the houses on all sides, before returning his attention to the god before him._

_"Your doom awaits, Rjufendr."_

_All that Surtr knew was pain, violently glorious pain, a burning sensation as blood poured forth from his wound. Now the Ancient was defenseless, unable to move, for the leader of the Muspellsmegir was too powerful in his rage to be looked away from. One almighty swing came down, splitting the god before him from skull to pelvis in a single stroke, and Surtr howled in victory._

_He knew what it was that he had to do, he knew what must be done._

_As his love rose, terror at the old was replaced by a terror for the new, and there were no words to describe her horror. He held his sword aloft, the blade shining bright. As he roared his pain and fury into the heart of the death-land, so did the death-land call back to him, granting the Fire That Was Not, the Fire That Once Was, and the Fire That Had Yet To Be. It pulsed within the sword, soaring upward from the tip, exploding into a halo of devastation that did not end...only as it began to fall did Surtr understand his purpose. He was an instrument, the breaker of the old and the forger of the new. So long, he'd spent forging his sword._

_Laughing and crying as the flames continued to rain from the sky, continued to spread throughout the world, he knew without knowing that the sinking would come next. Hel, where was Hel? Jormungandr could save herself, but Hel was the only one who could ensure their survival._

_Today the old gods lived again...no. Today, the old gods died with them._

_High above, he heard a raven's scream as it was hit by the fire from the sky, tumbling downward into death._

* * *

Asuka still wasn't completely used to the feeling of her new ears, though to her appreciation nobody had said a word.

_**"Shape it. Bend it."**_

The water streaming down in front of her face pulled away from the rest of the showerhead's downpour, spiraling up before condensing, forming a rotating ball.

_**"Be like water. Formless...shapeless. It takes the shape of whatever molds it. It can crash, it can flow. Shade without form, shape without motion. When you and the water are one, nothing can stop you."**_

_"I can't just...do that!"_

**_"Water takes the form of its container. What do you think contains you?"_**

_"My body."_

**_"And what contains your body? What keeps you together?"_**

_"Subatomic particle bonding."_

**_"Be like water."_**

She closed her eyes.

_Formless. Shapeless._

_**"Well, something clearly went wrong. Keep your eyes closed."**_

That was probably for the best. She didn't want to see whatever it was that had screwed up.

_**"You just thought about vanishing, didn't you? It doesn't work like that. There's a reason you're training in water...you don't just vanish. You fade into the atmosphere. Your body is mostly water, isn't it? All that's left over is used to maintain the illusion until you return. The air in this room is saturated with moisture, it will be much easier to attempt here."**_

It was one reason he'd always thrown mist around; in some areas, it just wasn't possible to fade into the surrounding air.

_**"Be like water. Become one."**_

The minutes of agony dragged on. It started in her ears, a feeling like fire coursing through her head before washing down to the rest of her body. By the time it was over, Asuka was ready to give up.

_**"Five minutes...not bad for a first attempt. It took me four, and the Helmsman took seven, if he was truthful in his words to me. Open your eyes."**_

She did, and stared at...was that her? She would have puked if she could.

_**"Yes, I know. In all likelihood, the next several attempts will look like that. Fortunately, you can reforge yourself. Close your eyes, imagine yourself as you know you are."**_

She felt the water on her skin, the perfect temperature. Her elfin ears remained, tapered to points; if she didn't know better, she'd think the angle had actually sharpened.

_**"Good. Now that you've done it once, you can do it again, and each time will be faster than the one before."**_

Turning the water off, Asuka grabbed a towel and began the process of drying.

She would never admit it, but she felt...better. More correct. It was as if she had been imperfect, and still was, but advancing towards her perfect form. She was the water, the lifeblood of the land, the necessity for all civilization. What was, and what would be, were one inside her flawed body and mind.

This she knew for truth.

She dried herself off and got dressed, after which she heard a knock on her door; it was Misato.

"Commander Ikari wants you and Shinji to go to his office. I'm guessing Rei will be there too."

After Misato told Shinji the news, Asuka stepped into the living room and waited with their escorts.

* * *

The air around Rei was cold, a good ten degrees below NERV's standard room temperature. It kept her blood running, she could almost feel her body adapting; a side-effect of her short time in the battle against the Wild God?

She couldn't extend the control further than a meter out from her body, but she believed that her reach with it would expand while she was inside of Unit-00. It would make no sense otherwise, as Shinji had managed to influence a whole school of bladefish with virtually no training. Even giving credence to the idea that his power magnified under duress...no, she didn't really want to think about this, not right now.

_Breathe the cold air in, breathe the warm air out._

She focused on the perimeter of her ability, on maintaining it. Contracting, expanding...the closest she could come to her own body was three centimeters, trapping all the warmth of the room away from her body.

She was the tactician of the three Children. She was control. She had to be.

Leaving the perimeter at the three centimeter mark, she decided to see just how long she could control it while it was there.

Or, at least, she would have.

"Commander Ikari wants to see you."

* * *

"What do you mean we're going to Ireland?"

"The third Ancient is beginning to wake, and we need you to stop it. It's not completely risen yet. If you're lucky, you'll get there in time to kill it without a fight." Gendo allowed no room for argument. "The Evangelion will be shipped by individual jets, and there will be a separate one for the three of you. We have identified the Fourth Child; in your absence, he will move into our headquarters. You leave in an hour."

"That's kind of sudden." Shinji pointed out.

"Would you rather let the Ancient rampage its way to you?"

"No."

"Then prepare to fly."

With that, Gendo stood. "If you would rather travel inside your units, feel free to do so. The funding can always be put towards some other acquisition."

Shinji and Rei looked to one another, none too pleased about their last experience in the entry plugs.

"We'll take the plane."

"How unfortunate...I will be waiting when you arrive." NERV's leader turned his back on the Children, and walked through an open doorway that slid shut behind him.

The Children were silent for a moment, digesting his words; despite his usual coldness, they'd been given important information that didn't deal with their current mission, which was unlike the elder Ikari.

"He said they've found the Fourth Child." Shinji spoke the same thought all three of them shared. "I wonder who it is?"

"Maybe it's Kensuke. Wouldn't that be funny? He's always going on about how he wants to be one of us, wants to fight against the Ancients." Asuka laughed.

"Touji." Rei said, the pieces fitting themselves together. "I can't think of any other reason why he was called out of class. He clearly wasn't in trouble, nobody brought him anything, he was only there for a couple of minutes."

"But they could be from anywhere, all over the world!" Shinji said. "Anyone our age can be a pilot, why would all four of us be Japanese?"

"Half." Asuka said, referring to herself. _And proud of it._

"Three and a half, then, but it still doesn't make sense."

"NERV's headquarters are here. Given the near-disaster that happened when Asuka traveled from Germany, it makes sense that they'd want to avoid another possible attack. So, to solve that, they just chose the best candidate from those most readily available."

"But Unit-03 is being built in America." Asuka said. "Why choose the pilot when the Evangelion isn't here yet?"

"Training. Shinji was thrown into combat on his first day here, and the fact that he survived and succeeded was an outright miracle."

She'd left out the part where her intervention was what had allowed him to kill the Wild God, but Shinji knew she was right. He remembered the wild exultation, the frenzy. Everything had gone red, he'd bitten Cernunnos' head off and screamed as the shockwave from the explosion knocked him unconscious.

Inconvenience was what had caused Shinji to be called to Tokyo-3, according to his father, but Shinji was beginning to realize that wasn't true. Maybe it wasn't that Gendo didn't care, but that he didn't know how to show it?

"We can talk about this later." He said. "We have an hour before we leave, so we'd better pack fast."

For Asuka, it was easy; she only needed to grab her plugsuit and stuff it down into a random suitcase she'd brought with her, since almost everything she owned was still packed in boxes or other suitcases. Rei only packed one bag as well, though she chose to wear her plugsuit in order to save a little bit of space. For his part, Shinji didn't care too much about the clothes he threw in, but his music player was in his pocket, and he made sure to grab his toothbrush and put it in his bag.


	11. Badb Catha, Lopt's Ascent

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"So which Ancient are we fighting this time?" Shinji asked as the plane began its descent.

"The Morrigan." Kaji said. "We'll be landing in New Dunmurry, it's only a few kilometers out from where she's sleeping. Unit-01 has been been outfitted with battery packs in a worst-case scenario where she wakes and manages to destroy your power cable. You'll have five minutes of battery life if you push yourself while utilizing them."

"Only five minutes?"

"It's the best that we've been able to manage. Commander Ikari didn't think that the Morrigan would be the next to wake, so he delayed progressing with the battery packs in favor of other matters."

"Why not our EVA?" Asuka whined, her gaze moving between Kaji and Rei.

"You'll have the standard two-minute emergency power. Shinji's the most adept at combat between the three of you, so it's more likely that he'll be the one in danger, and we only had the funding for one set."

_If the Morrigan is still supposed to be sleeping, _Rei thought, _why bother with the battery packs? Between the three of us, we should be able to kill one sleeping Ancient...there's such a thing as too many contingency plans, and I don't like where this is going._

"Let's move." Rei said. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go back home."

They'd landed in an old GEHIRN facility, the predecessor to NERV that had begun the work on the Evangelion units. In short order, the entry plugs were readied and the pilots entered into their EVA. LCL flooded the entry plug, and Shinji finally thought he was getting used to it.

As much as you can get used to breathing a liquid that smells like blood.

**"The target is two kilometers to the northeast." **Kaji's voice came in on their comm-links. **"Proceed with caution."**

Not that he had to say anything.

* * *

"Ah, so she was _not _the next to wake. I should have known better."

"Yes, but there's nothing you can do about that now."

"More or less. What is it you intend to do?"

"Nothing, not yet. I have to survive until the end of times."

"They won't allow it if they find you out. They'll hunt you down."

"Three, four, children? Against me? They don't have a chance, not yet."

Laughter, whole-hearted laughter, rang out from the man's mouth.

"You are a fool."

"There is a difference between a wise fool and an idiot savant, and the lord of deceit should know it."

"We are not so different, though, you and I. You are controlling them, just as your fate is to be controlled, whether by the crowned or the blood-hungry."

"And I, too, intend to make my life in the times beyond the end."

"You cannot lie to the one who birthed that craft, boy. You know you will die, you have seen it."

"I have seen nothing but your headless body falling before the Son of Muspel and the Ouroboros."

With laughter, the fire-god left. He was there in one moment, and gone in the next.

Eyes narrowed behind his glasses, lips set into a deep frown, Gendo Ikari bowed his head to rest against his bridged hands. If he were a praying man, then he would have been offering up his wishes to whatever god might have been listening...but he had told the pilots that he would be waiting for them. Moving to the doorway of his office, he looked behind his shoulder one more time to see the spot where his adversary had been.

* * *

They arrived at the site of the Morrigan's slumber, and found her still there. Curled into the fetal position, her arms between bosom and knees, she was an easy target.

"Let's go for it." Shinji said. "In and out."

The three EVA units circled around the Ancient, drawing their progressive blades.

Sharing viewscreens with the other Children, Rei nodded, and the three stabbed down simultaneously; in hindsight, everyone involved in this battle would agree that this was the exact moment when everything went to hell.

The Morrigan vanished, three shadows leaping from where one body had been, and slamming into the Evangelion from behind. Weapons were sent astray, with Asuka's leaving her hands and Shinji's being driven deep into the earth; Rei had been pushed so off-balance that she had pierced Unit-00's ankle and nailed it to the ground.

As she screamed, Shinji cut off his AV-feed from her. He twisted, swinging a right hook, and he felt Unit-01's fist connect with flesh.

He couldn't worry about the others now.

_I mustn't run away._

His opponent looked similar to the Morrigan who had vanished, but she was taller and darker of skin, with broader shoulders and wide hips.

**"The Morrigan can split into three separate beings, but she can't be killed unless they're joined together. You'll have to put forth a joint effort, you can't just face them separately."**

"A bit late for that information." Shinji's deadpan announcement didn't have time to sink in before Asuka raged.

"Shut up and fight, Shinji! Verdammte, I need my sword!"

"Take mine, I don't need it." He lunged with an uppercut, and as his opponent backed away he ripped his sword from the ground and tossed it to Unit-02.

A sword in her hand, Asuka swung twice before lunging, and she felt a tug on the blade as her opponent tried to dodge.

Blood ran down the woman's arm, marring her otherwise picturesque figure. Resembling an hourglass, with thinner limbs and a shorter frame than the singular form of the Morrigan, her beauty was undeniable...if ethereal, and somewhat alien.

Behind Asuka, Unit-00 ripped its sword out from its body and twisted to swing, attacking a deathly pale specter of the Morrigan with red war paint upon her face. Rei hobbled forward, dragging her lame leg, and attempted to press whatever offense she could make.

**"Don't drive them further apart." **Kaji said. **"Get them to join, so you can kill her. Three on one is much better than three on three."**

Rei moved backwards, shifting her blade into a reverse-grip. "You two will need to swing around to me, I can't move very well."

**"You'll need to change targets." **Gendo's voice fed directly into their brains, all the way from NERV HQ.

"Father?"

**"Shinji, attack Rei's target. Asuka, attack Shinji's. Rei, attack Asuka's."**

Shinji gave his opponent a savage backhand before leaping to Unit-00's defense.

"When did she get a sword?"

"When I stopped attacking."

_Great._

Shinji started to concentrate, and something began to change in Unit-01.

* * *

"This is your room."

"Ya mean I got a whole floor ta myself?"

"No, the other Children and Commander Katsuragi are on this floor. The other Children are in Ireland right now, fighting an Ancient, and Commander Katsuragi is observing them in Midgaard."

"Oh, right, I remember bein' here. Wanted to check on Shinji an' Rei." He didn't mention that he found it unfair that they got to fight, leaving him behind because he was stuck without an EVA. All he had, until Unit-03 arrived, was training exercises and diagnostic tests. He'd already practically bathed in the LCL; the other three were in that the entire time they fought? He didn't know if he could do it.

No, he had to do it.

"I asked for a forge."

"Inside of your room, take the door on your left. Will that be all, Mr. Suzuhara?"

"Uh...yeah, I guess."

Touji really felt out of place, comparing everything about himself to the NERV staff he'd seen. Their speech and dress was more formal, their hair almost uniformly cut...and they were wearing sunglasses. Underground.

He didn't know what was up with that.

The man who'd guided him here turned around, walking away; Touji took that as the sign to disappear, so he opened his door and went inside.

* * *

Metal sprouted from metal, razored claw-blades extending forward from Unit-01's left forearm. Shinji began to laugh, giving in to the primal nature within his soul, and his uppercut connected, taking the Morrigan's pale form through the lower ribs before launching her back to the pit. The other two vanished, consolidating into their singular state, and then split apart; while the pale form was now mostly healed, all three now showed signs of battle damage.

"Whatever you got from Njordr, use it!" Shinji yelled, moving forward and beginning to engage the three on his own. "If you need time, I'll buy it for you!"

He lunged forward, gripping one form by the throat with his right hand before shoving the blades on his left into its midsection. The trio became one, shifting away from the menace of Unit-01, before returning to its threefold state.

"Your cable!" Asuka said, alarmed.

Shinji hadn't noticed them cut it, and he decided that it didn't make a difference. If they couldn't finish this in five minutes, regardless of his new timer, then they were dead meat anyway.

He lashed out, unrestrained. Their swords took him in the arms, but only scratches came from the blows before he countered with savage punches. Dipping low, he charged, and reared his head up to gore one form in the shoulder. With a growl, she tried to push off of him, but Unit-01 bit down into her intestines.

"Shinji, if you keep wearing them down they'll have to stay in their joined state! I'll chill the air, Asuka will hyper-focus the moisture, and we'll freeze her in place so that we can kill her!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Asuka smirked.

He lived to serve, their beast of burden, but he wasn't entirely sure where the beast ended and the man began. Killing was his business, and nobody would ever charge him for war crimes.

Reduced to a pawn in the waiting game, he smiled, because he knew he didn't mind. Better a pawn, with the power of the king, than a king who was made into a pawn.

He pushed ahead, elbow knocking two forms into one another while the third took razors to her face. His legs swept out, tripping the three forms before they could join and disperse, but his coup de grace was too slow, and the trio split away once again. He had two minutes of battery life.

"How close are you to being done?"

"Very. A minute at most. Draw her in here."

* * *

_They believed that three-to-one odds would be her downfall? That she, the Great Queen, would bleed to the wayside and let these children pass her by?_

_No! She refused! She would show them the folly of their thinking. She was the power of the earth, the lady of war and death, the archon for the Allfather's Valkyries! She would not be stopped!_

_The three became one, and she took a mighty leap, intending to take the purple-armored upstart through the chest with her sword; how would _HE _like it?_

_He ducked, rolling beneath her, but that did not concern her. She twisted, and-_

_Cold. Why was it so cold?_

* * *

"It worked." Rei said, smiling as she lifted her progressive blade higher. As she stabbed down, Asuka thrusted her sword through the ice encasing the Morrigan, and Shinji struck through the Ancient's core.

The three of them laughed as the ice absorbed her body's explosion, melting and evaporating before the shards could damage the Evangelion units at all.

Shinji activated the entry plug's emergency launch, the capsule flying out before Unit-01 lost its battery power. Opening it, and clambering out, he smiled.

He had to, after all. After what they'd just been through, they would need a smile to warm them up.


	12. Promise of Destruction

**"Sporadic updates" indeed...my apologies.**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"Congratulations." Gendo said, bridged hands rendering his face unreadable. "The Great Queen is dead. Three of the Ancients are gone now."

The first three Children stood in his office, the unspoken question lingering between them; _how many are left? _All three wondered, but none had the courage to voice the thought to their leader.

"Thank you, father."

"Commander, do you know who the next Ancient will be, or when they will come?" Asuka spoke, her uncertainty giving an edge to the words that the elder Ikari quirked an eyebrow at. From all of NERV-03's reports, Asuka was not someone prone to fear. What had happened, what had changed her?

"It may be more than one." The uncomfortable silence hung there, until Gendo continued. "Regardless, spend your time well. The three of you will have to help the Fourth Child in combat, but you will succeed as long as you remain strong."

"And...who is the Fourth Child?"

"Your classmate, Touji Suzuhara. If that's all, you may leave."

The three Children shared a look; it was time to brace Touji for the hell that was coming for him. Nodding to Gendo, they left. As the door closed behind them, another opened at the back of the room. The offending figure, robed in green and black and gold, barely avoided a laugh at the man's expense.

Head low, bridged hands before his face, NERV's supreme commander cut quite the scheming figure.

"Your time is near, All-Seer." To Gendo's credit, he did not jump when the words were spoken.

"Near, but not come. I have some time yet before my fate reaches me."

"You seek eternal life. You seek dominion. You cannot win."

"I have never needed to win. My eyes show me the path to victory, and it matters not whether I live or die. I have followed my path, I have woken and ridden the beast. Can you say the same, cackling witch?"

"They won't stand for it, you know. The boy may not know you're using him, but the others...if they don't now, then they will soon. _Her _in particular."

No clarification was needed. Gendo knew, perfectly well, how terrifyingly astute Rei was. It was, ironically, just like Yui had been. She had known that he hadn't lusted after her, nor her connection to SEELE. He had only wanted her for who she was: Yui Ikari, a brilliant scientist and beautiful woman.

Those rumors still haunted him, especially as they had only worsened following her death. That Rei would look so identical to her...the gods were laughing at him.

"These eyes have seen all they need to see."

"Plural?" The enemy of mankind laughed at NERV's commander. "Don't lie to me, boy. Your glasses hide the truth from others, but there's no reason for me to play your game."

"Your pride won't let you. That is your sin." Hands bridged to hide his smile, Gendo continued. "You insist on a challenge, or at least on a game. It wouldn't be right to do things the easy way, even for a traitor."

"Careful, now...you wouldn't want me to betray _myself,_ would you?"

The Ancient vanished, laughter ringing in Gendo's ears.

_I am going to die._

* * *

_**"There is no more I can tell you, MacGendo. Not without infringing upon the death-land. You have a new...teacher." **_Cernunnos flashed a grin, fading into the darkness at a slow walk. Then, behind Shinji, the second voice came.

**_"Hello, child."_**

_"Morrigan."_

**_"Is that any way to greet a queen? Have you no respect?" _**She walked around to face him, and he saw it was her threefold form rather than any of the trio's individuals.

_"A while ago, I might have had fear, but you can thank your brother for the change. I bow to no one."_

**_"Good! Good! You have the weight of mind necessary. You, my child...you are the man who will be king. Lord of all the earth, its creatures and its terrain, the master of the beast within. I could not have washed your armor if I had wanted to, you are destined to rule. I held the power of foresight. I was the earth mother, the Great Queen...now a phantom, a shadow of my true self."_**

_"Why are you compelled to help me? Cernunnos said that he would 'perpetuate the cycle,' but I still don't understand."_

**_"I am here because I choose to be. You, the prince of the world, king of all things that grow under the sun. One, the tactician, who sees what must happen and does what is necessary...and her, the final descendant of the man who spurned my love. Ah, if only her father remained alive!"_**

_"Her father?" _It wasn't difficult to guess that the tactician was Rei, leaving Asuka to be, "her."

_**"The strongest man to walk beneath the shadow of the sun since the heroes of old, and nearly **_**HIS**_** spitting image...but that is all you need to understand. When she comes to me, I will tell her the knowledge she deserves to know."**_

As though on cue, footsteps rang, Rei and Asuka arriving in the death-land.

_**"Fade, my son. Those two and I have business to attend to."**_

Shinji faded out from the death-land then, and back to the world of sleeping dreams. He knew that the Morrigan would call on him when he was ready to learn. Until then, he had time to learn more about his own power...and besides, he couldn't just monopolize the goddess whose power was split between them.

* * *

Once Shinji was gone, the Morrigan split into two. Badb Catha, the Battle Raven, looked to Rei and nodded before walking to the side, drawing her away from Asuka. The redhead was left with the two-in-one version of the Ancient, who looked more the part of a barmaid than a warrior or sorceress.

_**"You look less like your father than I expected, but that's his mother, and yours, showing through you...and yet, all these years in the future, it's clear you're **_**his _descendant. You have the same eyes, the same ears. That drive to succeed, to destroy opposition. Thousands of years forward, and all the difference between you and your greatest ancestor is one chromosome."_**

"My father? What do you know about him?" Njordr had, after all, only given her his face.

_**"Oh, my child...I was the lady of life and death, do you not know? All that passed from one life to the next, I knew. All those in the age of myths and legends, all who came after. That I lay dreaming does not mean I did not use my power! Besides, you are special. Your blood gives you power, greater even than the man who would be king. Your father was the strongest man upon this earth since the Hound of Culain walked the Emerald Land, perhaps even before that, and you descend from one among my kin by his demigod son."**_

"Descended from an Ancient?"

_**"His gifts are lost to your blood, after thousands of years of procreation, but it is from him that you descend. MacGendo is the man who would be king, but your blood is both royal and divine."**_

"Could I...meet him? My father? This is the death-land, he should be here, right?"

**_"In time, he will come for you. When you have lost all faith, all hope...a father can never abandon his daughter. Sons learn to fight for themselves, though their parents will come if they are ever needed. Daughters are not expected to, though the reasoning behind this is as archaic as it is terrible. A parent's duty is to protect their child. When you need him, he will come to you."_**

"When do you think that will be?"

The Morrigan gave a small smile, though it disappeared with a single word. _**"Ragnarok."**_

Then, with that, Asuka was gone from the death-land. In the world of her dreams, she waited for the day of destruction and salvation.

_"That was cruel. You would deny the girl her own father, the last of her family, even in his death?"_

_**"As though you have any right to speak, kinslayer. Had you not attempted to meddle in the affairs of gods and demons, you might have lived to see your grandson."**_

_"Are you implying that my line is filled with _anything_ but murderers of kith, kin and king? My father slew his grandfather, I killed my son. Brother has killed brother, mother killed daughter...the list goes on. Her father was the master of violence and bloodshed, and you did not do him justice. I took my fate into my own hands, that day when I first drew a sword. That man was born to end lives, and nothing else."_

**_"Sentimentality? From you?"_**

_"You slept time away, but I watched them. I watched the invasion of my land, of my people. I saw them beaten, brutalized. I saw them rise up, watched as families were torn apart by loyalty and hatred. Thousands of years of suffering, all to create the ultimate killing machine. He should have been the one to wage this war against your kind, not his daughter. Not these children. He could have struck down Cernunnos. He could have slaughtered Njordr. Without a mecha, with nothing but his bare hands, he could have torn down every last one of you. He should have succeeded where I failed. He was the one who could have."_

**_"Oh? And what of me? Of Loki? Not all men are as stubborn as you."_**

_"No, they are not, but neither you nor the Trickster could have taken him. His anchors to the world were his love for her, for them, and his hatred for the living. You could not tempt him. Loki would not deceive him. The ravenous beast within his mind defied all magic, as did I."_

**_"Not that it saved your son, in the end. The last of her line, all alone, until the day of the end of all things...I can't wait until that lightning-spewing oaf meets her."_**

He smiled at that._ "If that is what you believe, then you have not paid enough attention to the world around you. This death-land pacifies, forces you to help those who yet live for as long as you remain within, but I am free to wage my war again. Ragnarok is your salvation, but you will taste the blood and thunder in the sky before that release comes to you."_

* * *

Rei stood still, learning from the pale apparition before her. All touched by the air was her domain, and from the Battle Raven would she learn the power of death.

Throughout the night, she never left the death-land.

All that had existed could live on. All that had yet to exist would rise from the carcass of the old.

Throughout the night, she never left the once and future world.

* * *

Touji reflected on the words the other Children had said to him; he had nothing better to do as he worked the forge. His clock read 3:50 AM, and he couldn't sleep. His hammer rang out as it struck against the metal, sparks flying as heat blanketed the room. Could he finish tonight? The blade was nothing but ambitious, six and a half feet of metal that would be wielded in one or both hands.

Down, the hammer swung. It rose above him, only to be sent back to the anvil. Up and down his arm moved, the only sounds in the room a burning hiss and the ring of metal on metal. It was here, in the forge, that Touji knew his father was wrong. The sword was not simply an instrument of death. It was a weapon, for certain, but it did not merely kill.

The sword, _this _sword, _his _sword, would allow him to protect the people he cared about. Kensuke, Hikari, his father. His sister. All his classmates. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei.

This sword would shield them all.


	13. More Monster Than Man

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"Time for the virtual reality simulation. You three have experienced this part, for other tests we've run here," Ritsuko said, offhandedly waving a hand at Rei, Asuka and Shinji, "but Touji...this is how it goes. You'll stand in there, it will fill up with LCL, and the simulation will begin when you're fully synced."

Touji nodded. "How long is this goin' ta take?"

"That depends on the four of you."

The four Children, in their plug suits, stepped into their respective chambers. The doors sealed, then tightened, and LCL began to dribble in. It was an unnerving experience for them all, and not something the first three had gotten used to in the past two months.

"Readings...done. Synchronization ratios stabilizing. Rei, sixty-five percent. Asuka, sixty-seven percent. Shinji, seventy percent. Touji, forty-three percent. That's not bad for someone who's never been in an Evangelion before. It's likely to go higher once you've actually piloted Unit-04."

It wasn't much, but the knowledge that inexperience was the root of his problem helped assuage Touji's wounded pride at being so far behind the others.

"Simulation starting...now."

* * *

The world before them faded, vision moving through the LCL. Each of the Children appeared in their EVA Unit, and the battle began. Bullets flew from guns that Shinji did not want or need. Touji held his progressive blade, but it was far too small to be of use. Asuka faded into the world around her, striking where she could, and Rei looked down from above. The swarm of enemies, tall and strong enough to stand against them, was unending. They looked like some strange cross between a human and an Evangelion, with living features but extra pieces: blades on their arms or knees, or extra "plating" on their chests, and more variations than they could bother to observe.

"Scheißkerl!" Asuka swore, breaking one enemy to pieces, only to be struck by another. Fading in and out repeatedly took its toll, until she had to stay solid for the remainder of the simulation.

"When does it end?" Touji wheezed from exertion, unwilling to back down as he slapped one of the simulated enemies into having a broken neck.

"It ends when none of us are still standing." Rei said. "This is a training exercise, it's for endurance. The longer you can stand against insurmountable odds, the higher your sync rate will rise. The higher your sync rate rises, the faster and stronger you'll be in your Evangelion."

"Short version, please!"

"The longer you can survive in here, the longer you can survive against the Ancients."

Shinji, having exhausted all the bullets from his guns, threw them hard enough to bisect a pair of enemies coming towards them. He knew his truth, and he knew where his true weapon was. The ground beneath them shuddered, causing their foes to fall, and he raced into action. Separating himself, he saw that there were more foes coming from every direction, and resolved to stand alone against the horde.

"Shinji, no! We need to stick together!" Rei said, trying to get through to him.

The Third Child only laughed, too far gone to be reasoned with. Lifting his head to the artificial sky, Unit-01 opened his mouth to let loose a roar that shook heaven and earth. His hands were hammers, and his enemies became the nails in their own coffins. Blades and spikes began to grow from Unit-01, white eye-sockets glowing a vibrant red. Ducking his head and charging forward, he gored one enemy and left countless wounds in others. Rising, the projection of an opponent flew into the air. Shinji was a whirlwind, uncontrolled, and he'd entirely separated himself from the others. Only the path he had carved from corpses remained to show the way to him.

"...no road back, huh? Fine, you idiot." Asuka grinned, and from the blood of the fallen came a weapon that was hers by birthright. "Just don't think you're going to go alone!" She ran ahead, intent on reaching Shinji, and began to spin her spear to build up momentum. Liquid, it sliced through everything it touched, leaving deep gouges in the earth and deeper cuts in the bodies of their enemies.

"No, don't follow him! Close up with us!"

"Rei, look out!" Touji's warning came too late, one of the enemies having leapt into the air and hammering her down to the earth. A gust of wind flew from Unit-00's fingertips, cutting it to ribbons, but then a mass of them were upon her.

"Damn it!" He barreled through the distance between the fallen First Child and himself, and body-slammed the wall of their enemies into the ground before crushing them. Looking behind himself, he saw that Unit-00 no longer moved. "Rei's down, I'm comin' to y-"

An opponent's blade took the simulated Unit-03 through his chest, and Touji followed his fellow Child into darkness.

From nowhere, a massive gale swept across the land, sending Unit-01 crashing into Unit-02. All their enemies seemed larger now, as though they had absorbed some of the strength Rei and Touji had possessed.

"Oh, that's just fucking fantastic." Asuka drawled the last word. "What do you say, Shinji?"

Her sole remaining companion was already on his feet, and she felt his war cry in the LCL she piloted from. Without waiting for her, he charged off into the thick of the enemy force.

"How could I ever doubt him?" Men, she resolved, were the cause of all her problems. If it wasn't because of one, it was because of another. Still, she surmised as she watched him wage his one-man war against impossible odds, she couldn't exactly blame him either. "Nothing for it, then. Let's see just how much better I can be after this is over and done with!"

As the horde converged upon her, one by one, she saw Unit-01 be split apart by a blade of wind from behind.

Soon enough, she fell as well, and the war-game was over.

* * *

The LCL drained from their containment tanks faster than it had gone in, and Rei gave Shinji a cold look once they were all free.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

"You're just angry because you were the first one to go down."

"We would have lasted longer if you had stayed with the rest of us!"

"Are we done here, Commander Akagi?" Shinji ignored Rei, looking to the blonde woman sitting behind her desk.

"You're free to go."

Shinji knew that it would undoubtedly be a better choice for him to make amends with the First Child sooner, rather than later. Walking out the door and making a, "follow me," motion with his head as he looked to Asuka, he _also _knew that he didn't particularly care whether or not Rei liked him. She had said herself that all three of them needed to survive if they were to have a chance at winning this war against the Ancients. He was the brawler, a berserk fighter. He didn't need finesse, he didn't need orders. His job was to crush everything around him.

That's what he told himself.

He just didn't want to admit that he couldn't control the monster that was beginning to rise within him. When he went to sleep that night, he entered into the death-land, and he appeared before the Morrigan with determination in his eyes and no room for avoidance in his tone.

"Teach me how to rule. Teach me how to command."

The Morrigan, however, was no stranger to this game. _**"How to command what?"**_

"Life."

_**"The madness is taking hold of you, my child. Can you not feel it inside? How it bristles, how it rattles the bars of its cage? You are not meant to be contained within this mortal shell, you are wild and free. You are first among men, though whether you will take your place upon the throne or be chained to it has yet to be determined. All this, and more, I have seen...but you came here to learn. I will teach you, then, MacGendo, my child. All will be made clear."**_

And so he learned. Posture, she taught him, was everything; it was how to convey his message, and make others believe it, without needing to say a word. Move his back like so, narrow his eyes by this amount, set his arms in a specific position, and they would understand he meant them harm. Relax his shoulders, tilt his head up, and they would know the opposite. Bodily control was the basis for war, and would allow him to influence an opponent's mind.

Fear was the key. If he could control whether or not someone was afraid of him, on an instinctual level, then he could control the outcome of the battle. Fear was paralyzing, and to stop would mean to die. He needed to survive, he needed the _others _to survive. One of them, alone, couldn't do this...he'd be damned if he did it on their terms, though.

All throughout the night, his music never stopped.

_I am in control. I am in control. Judgement day is coming._

_This world is mine, _his music said to him. _I'll mold it with my hands._

He was the one with the power of the man who would be king.

He would stand above and beyond them all, a guiding light for them to follow. Into battle, into the heart of darkness, he would be the one to rise above the gods. What need did the world have of men or gods, when there were already plenty of other animals to take up space in the world? He was just another one of them, after all. Why bother with pretending to be anything else?

* * *

The wind came down on Tokyo-3 that night. No overwhelming force, no sweeping gales, but it wasn't a good night to be biking. Above the city, high enough that she could ignore any wandering cameras, Rei focused on controlling the wind currents and moving them throughout the city.

How _dare_ he? He wasn't the one who could see the bigger picture in the battle. While the enemies were endless, and they were all going to go down eventually, they would have lasted longer if he hadn't run off to fight on his own! No matter how high their synch rates had gone after the simulation, they could have gone higher if they'd stayed together!

Asuka hadn't helped matters, either, running off to find Shinji instead of letting the fool die on his own for the three of them to survive. That had left her with Touji, the newest and weakest of them who didn't have any powers! The two weakest, all on their own, fending for themselves?

All the wind rose up from the city, and Rei pushed it out towards the sea, a great bullet of air that would dissipate before flying too far out.

No, she knew what she needed. It was time to go back to Niflheim, and she hoped to find her answers there.

_But what to us is so holy that we must sacrifice it? _She asked herself.

Descending through the darkness of the Geofront, delving to the heart of NERV, she mused upon her feelings. She didn't hate Shinji. She didn't hate _anyone. _The fact that she'd become so agitated over the last several days was telling. These battles were starting to get to her, changing her. They were making her more powerful, more suited to this war against the gods that she waged alongside the latter three Children, but her gift wasn't for battle. Her strength laid in her capability, her foresight, her planning.

As she viewed the room around her, from the chamber sealed with LCL, stopping to look at Commander Ikari as he removed his glasses to better read the computer screen...that was when she knew better. Countless bodies floating behind the walls. She couldn't see them, but she could feel them. Vessels without intelligence, without conscience. Her true gift was in the fact that all she knew, all her powers and her capabilities, were added to the template of her existence by the hand of a man who sought to become divine.

Her strength laid in death's permanence.


	14. Binding Oath of Aid

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

_Blood and thunder rose like the water around her. Flame would soon coat all the earth, streaking down from the sky to break the will of humanity. There was no hope, not for those who could never attempt to wage their war against the gods of olden days._

_They all fought for different reasons. Surtr had taken up arms to protect his lover and his sister. Hel had no purpose, save for fighting this battle. Fenrir had begun this march at his father's command, but now continued for the sake of violence and bloodshed._

_She just wanted it to be over._

_She had stopped caring about what would happen to the world long, long ago. She no longer tried to save the dying; attempting that was the fastest way to meet her end, and she needed to keep fighting. She could rest when it was all over, when everything was done. Raising her blood-made spear, she marched to face the blond warrior before her. His hammer crackled, static electricity leaping from one facet to another. She could hear the thunder in the sky, now. Rain was coming down, first in droplets and then with worse fury than any storm she'd ever seen before._

_Asator, strongest among the Ancients, was ready. She knew what she faced now, though she would rail against it with all her might. It would be just as before, with all the other times she had fought. Silent, she charged forward, spear-blade sweeping aside the hammer's head as his arm swung down. Lightning traveled through the spear, evaporating it and sending a massive shock through her Evangelion's frame._

_Staggered, hissing, she willed the rain to bind him with chains forged from their water. Without delay, he called down his lightning and freed himself. She brought up her hands to shield herself from the hammer-strike that came down, and felt the metal shatter in her mind. Instinctively, she ejected her entry plug, flying into the rising ocean and freeing herself before rocketing to the surface._

_"The race of men grew strong." Her adversary noted. "Too strong. To build those weapons, mockeries of our ancient foes, to seek to challenge we who created, ruled, protected them...you would wage war upon us?"_

_Her only answer was to run at him, spikes of water forming up around her as another spear became solid in her hands. There would be no shelter here, for him or any other._

_"Very well then."_

_She closed her eyes, thrusting forward, knowing what would happen...but the crushing blow never came. Opening her eyes, she saw her weapon cutting its way through the Ancient's chest, and the flats of a sword and a spear-blade standing strong against Mjolnir's end._

_"We saw you die...we watched you die! We planned it! How...did you..."_

_It had been the entombment of a beastly machine, a creature more metal than man. He was hate made flesh, and bloodshed given voice. But what stood before her was no mere machine. He had risen, and the dead knew pride once again, for he was a monster that could not be brought down by man or beast or god._

_The blond warrior slumped, god-core shattered to pieces by her weapon, as a man she had never known spat upon his slow-sinking corpse. His face in shadow, overcast by the shaggy mane of curling hair, she could only pray he was on her side._

_"Death can never hope to conquer a man who makes his life inside its home."_

_Jormungandr looked to her left as a pillar of flame shot up into the sky. By his action, bound by his fate, Surtr had doomed the world. Jormungandr found, and cursed in the finding, that she could no longer find it within herself to care._

* * *

"You seek to forge the greatest sword this world has ever known."

Touji wheeled around, hammer dropping from his hand as the voice reached his ears. There was nobody there, the light of the forge-fire showing walls.

"You seek the power to protect and save."

Again, from behind him. Turning once more, he saw nobody. Was he imagining it?

No, he couldn't be. He was crazy, but he wasn't _that _crazy. He didn't hear voices that came from nowhere. Something screwy was going on.

"Fool, thinking you can do both, or even one."

"Show yourself!"

Laughter, fast and sinister, met his ears. "I am the fire and the end. In three days' time, you will have the strength to create the blade you seek, and I will aid you. Will you be ready, I wonder? Or will you perish with my brothers?"

As the laughter faded, shadows played upon the wall, forming the image of a man with terrible power. Touji turned, one final time, and caught a glimpse of green and golden robes. The fire burst outwards before returning to normal, and he couldn't get the image of flames out of his mind. Flames, and a blindingly brilliant sword forged from the deepest desires of his heart.

Maybe his father was right, maybe swords were only able to break and destroy, never to be used for any other purpose...but if he could protect his precious people by destroying with his sword, he would give the world to have them saved.

Shuddering, with the desire to work his forge now long-gone, the young man set to work putting everything away.

"The world just _does not _want me to make this fucking sword." He sighed. "Well, world, too fucking bad."

That voice had told him three days, hadn't it? He could wait three days.

He needed sleep. He couldn't wait for sleep. It was almost five in the morning, why did he keep staying up so late?

* * *

"Hey, 'Kari."

Class was over for the day. The class representative and Touji, whether by luck or by design, had cleanup duty. They were finished, and Touji was leaning up against the wall by the door. His refusal to adhere to school dress code, as usual, was a minor thorn in her side. Pretending to ignore him, she packed up her things.

"'Kari." He repeated his nickname for her once again, hands falling away from their crossed position. Still, she refused to look.

"Dammit, woman, can't ya at least look at me? I'm tryin' ta talk to ya!"

She sighed. "What do you want, Touji? You know how my family is. I have to get home soon. You should sleep, the bags under your eyes are getting worse."

"I swear ta whatever god ya want me to," his voice took on an edge of seriousness, "he so much as lays a hand on ya an' I'll-"

"Leave it be, Touji." She stood, moving to the door, but she stopped when Touji spoke again.

"How d'ya expect me ta just _leave it be, _Hikari? He treats ya like nothin' good an' yer ma's never around ta stop him."

"You shouldn't know that! How do you even-" Now, it was her turn to be interrupted.

"Oh, like I wouldn't try ta keep close tabs on ya." He stood, moving in front of her. "Who the fuck else in this place do I give a damn about? Kensuke's my bro, Shinji an' the girls are pilots like me, but d'ya think I'd rather have them with me than you?"

They had an unspoken agreement that they would never actually address their feelings for one another. For him to be talking like this was to come close to breaking that accord. He was a delinquent, and she was an up-and-coming senior with a bright future, universities practically competing over her, and the high expectations that came with that lifestyle. For them to be seen with one another outside of school would ruin their respective images.

"Touji, please. Please don't."

"I won't. There's somethin' else I was gonna tell ya."

"Well, then tell me, so I can go home."

"I think...I think there's gonna be another attack Wednesday. Don't come ta school, just go straight ta yer bunker. Ya need ta stay safe."

"Thank you. We'll see."

Hikari walked away, head tilted down, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Touji waited until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, and then a minute longer, before he followed suit. He'd have been a liar, had he told anyone that he didn't want to follow her home.

He could only fight so many battles for her, though. This wasn't one of them, at least not yet.

* * *

"Why bother with it?" Shinji said, irritated. "You know what's going to happen just as well as I do. There's no need for it."

"Because it's what's expected of you, and we don't know when this is going to be over. It might end in a week, it might end in ten years. The world will survive, and you'll go back to class and have to turn in all your homework anyway."

Asuka tried to ignore what her dreams told her. She wanted to believe in the world's salvation. After this was all over, she wanted to have a normal life...at least, as normal a life as she could have when she fought against monstrous gods with powers that she gained from slaying them.

Her unblinking eyes, tapered ears, and covered gill-slits should have been obvious reminders that was impossible.

"Will it, Asuka? Do you really think it will?" The question wasn't genuine. "Anyone who bothered to read some of the old stories as a child would know what's going to happen. The Fimbulvetr came and went. The old gods are dying, one by one. Ragnarok is coming."

"We can stop it, Shinji. That's why we're here, why we're fighting, isn't it? It's so we can stop it." She hoped it would keep him from saying the words she didn't want to hear. He, on the other hand, was not in the mood for kindnesses.

"We're the ones who are perpetuating it, Asuka. Have Njordr or the Morrigan talked to you? I don't think they were all too invested in fighting, honestly. We showed up, we were the ones to engage them in combat. If I hadn't been there, that night, against Cernunnos, I'm certain he would have just found his way to...whatever his destination was. He never told me."

"What are you saying? We're fighting to protect humanity!"

"We're fighting to kill the gods of the old world. We're doing my father's bidding, and while there's no love lost between him and I...he's planning something. Nothing good in my life has ever come from that man."

"No, that's not right! It can't be!"

"Everything points to us being the bad guys. The old legends never mention living humans very much, you know? The Einherjar will ride out behind the Allfather at Ragnarok, the army of corpses will sail to the last battle on the ship callled Naglfar. All those humans are _dead, _Asuka. Who's to say that the rest of the world won't join them?"

"You say that like you don't consider yourself one!"

"Well, maybe I don't. We're the ones who can fight against the gods. We can kill them. Normal humans can't do that."

"Zur Hölle fahren, you idiot!" She got up from the table, storming to her room. Why did he have to be so hardheaded?

Shinji stood, walking to her door.

"I'm sorry. I don't...I don't really know what's been happening to me for the last few days." He'd been more aggressive, more arrogant and antagonistic. "I don't mean to make you upset, I don't want you to be mad at me, and I don't want to be mad at you. Misato will be home soon, we should start cooking dinner if you don't want to eat anything that's not microwaved."


	15. Render Unto Hel

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

He waited at his desk, watching the seconds tick by on the clock over the board. The classroom was comfortably loud, other students chattering away about something or another. Even his fellow pilots were talking with their classmates, leaving Touji the only silent figure in the room. He idly noted that some desks were empty.

_Mikan and Kinu's families must have moved away...they've been gone for a few days. Good for them, hopefully they'll be a little safer. We can only protect those near to us, but if they're lucky there won't be an Ancient who wakes close to them._

He may have only become a pilot recently, and his only battles were from training, but these were his friends and classmates. He'd known them for years. They were the ones who he'd grown up with, this was their home, and that meant something to him.

"Touji? Hey, Touji!"

He ignored Kensuke's voice, not blinking as the clock's hand moved with rigidity. The voice's words ate at him, conjuring the image of his forge-fire to his mind. Green and gold, and burning red, as shadows danced against the light of the end. His eyes narrowed, and if he had held a power in him like the rest of the Children then he had no doubt that the clock would have buckled and broken under the weight of his stare.

The teacher called on him, and he answered; he hadn't heard the question, and didn't know what he'd answered. His body was running on autopilot, and he was fine with that. While some of the other students might have been shocked at the notion, Touji was deep in thought. Why wouldn't he be? He'd been given an advance warning of battle. These people in class with him...some of them might not survive the attack. He and the other Children would be the most at risk, by virtue of being the combatants, but civilian casualties were always a possibility.

He would need to end the battle quickly. All four of them needed to. The Ancients, in legend, had all lived in a time of great war. Prolonged battles were more likely to go in their favor, as they had been designed to weather those storms. The Evangelion units, their pilots, and humanity as a whole, had not. The Children were beginning to understand, and adapt, but it might not be enough.

Maybe it was time that he made use of NERV's training facilities, and didn't just rely on his forge for exercise.

A harsh noise broke him from his reverie, and he looked out of the window to see a crow staring back in his direction. It cawed once more, and then vanished in a green light.

Looking around the classroom, it seemed that nobody else had noticed.

_I need more sleep. _He decided. If that voice had been right, then tomorrow...tomorrow, there would be another Ancient attack. Apparent hallucinations aside, he would need to be well-rested.

* * *

The butterfly obeyed his commands, flying in the pattern determined by his eyesight. It finally fluttered away once Shinji closed his eyes, and he didn't see its lifeless body fall from the air behind him. In his mind, his powers still needed to be practiced and controlled.

In the night sky, he picked out Rei's form; though it was hard to distinguish her from the darkness, his eyesight had improved beyond a normal man's. Did she think that she could win their argument by being petty and refusing to address it?

He didn't particularly care whether or not they made up. His desire was the power within him, in bringing it to the surface of his being. He sought _control. _He would be king and commander. There was a small voice inside of him that screamed no, he didn't want that. He wanted to be left alone, he wanted to run away...but it was impossible for him to run away. This was the task that he had been born to carry out. The blood of long-forgotten kings flowed in him, and he would bring them pride.

Touji was fast asleep in his room; Shinji knew he needed the rest. Just as he was watching Rei, he knew that Rei was watching Asuka. The patterns and routines they'd fallen into were indicative of themselves; all three of them would head back to NERV headquarters later, one by one, without seeing or speaking to one another. Whether it was Asuka's homesickness, or that she still despaired over her physical changes, or anything else...she went to the ocean. He hoped that she was practicing with her powers.

Laughing to himself, he began to walk away, back to NERV. The wind seemed to follow him, and he knew Rei was more observant than he would give her credit for. Being at one with the wind, up in the sky, was a thing that suited her. She was untouchable, almost invisible, and pantoscoptic from her place on high. Perhaps she really _was_ the one suited to strategy.

That was fine by him; a king couldn't do everything, no matter how strong he was. If he had to rely on her, then so be it. He could set aside her disapproval of him for their mission.

A black cat raced across the street behind him, but he paid it no attention. Only Rei saw the cat, in a flash of light, transform into a crow.

"Asuka." Her voice was carried on the wind. "We need to head back, now. Something bad is about to happen."

Down on the beach, Asuka stood up and began to move. Rei herself sank from the sky, until she was also heading towards NERV at full speed. The wind guided her, rushing through the streets as she moved.

Was there really going to be an attack, this late at night? They weren't prepared for that!

"That is the point, Nonedotter." A voice, carried on the wind. The crow flew above her, the street lamps casting its plumage in a rainbow of hues. She blasted the wind where it spread its wings, still running, and watched as it disappeared.

"Do you think you can escape your fate? That you are above your own consequences?" A mouse, arrayed in color, scurried in front of her.

She could see Shinji and Asuka making it into NERV's base.

"The children should learn to obey the father." The mouse grew, now a man garbed in robes of black and silver. Rei ran forward, but soon found herself back where she'd began.

"I am no man's child."

She was alone in this fight, and vastly outgunned. The Ancient before her was Loki, the shapeshifting trickster. The earth shook, and three more Ancients began to close in; they were large, compared to her current foe. EVA-sized, for the other Children to take on.

"Now then..." Loki smirked, green fire crawling up his arms. "...shall we dance?"

Rei grimaced, fully aware that she was the easiest opponent of the three he could have chosen.

* * *

"WAKE UP!" Shinji yelled.

"We're already on top of it, Shinji. Get to the cage." His father's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, and the Third Child redoubled his efforts.

"Keep up, Asuka!"

"I'm trying!" She was lagging behind him, not used to intensive workouts or endurance running.

"Oh, for the love of..." In that moment, he _commanded, _and her body obeyed. He caught her when she jumped, and continued running.

Just like the butterfly from earlier, he could control actions to a limited extent; using it took a toll on the psyche of his unwilling puppet, but one compulsion wouldn't cause her to die.

"How did you do that?"

"...I'll tell you once we're safe."

Cradling her in his arms as he ran, Shinji found it faster to take the stairs than the elevator. Clearing a full flight of stairs in one jump, he was on the floor with the cage. Each door opened, and their plug suits were waiting in the changing room.

Setting Asuka down, Shinji didn't even bother undressing; he put the suit on over his clothes, and moved onward.

The two of them were launched in the next minute.

* * *

"Shit, what a drag...why couldn't they attack in the daytime?" Touji grumbled, Unit-03 moving with his will. Black as the night around him, his EVA waited. Most of the buildings lowered into the ground, he lacked additional cover, but that was fine by him. He was the strongest of the Children, he didn't need to hide.

Three-on-four odds didn't sound so bad to him, but only two EVA rose up to stand next to him.

"Where's Rei?"

"No clue." Shinji's video feed popped up. "She's faster than the rest of us, I thought she'd beaten us back to headquarters."

**"She's busy." **Gendo's voice came in, filtered through LCL. **"The three of you should make a match for the three of them."**

He was right. Three-on-three, EVA against Ancient. That wasn't awful, when he thought about it like that.

He'd been raised on Tokyo-3's streets, though; there was no such thing as a fair fight, especially not when he could make it work in his favor.

He broadcast his video feed to Unit-01 and Unit-02, and audio to the command center. "I have a plan. How long until they show up?"

**"One minute!" **Said one of the NERV techs.

"Perfect. I'll see you in a little bit."

Unit-03 crouched down, weaving between buildings.

"What are you doing?" Asuka demanded, but she wouldn't get an answer. His feed was dead, and she couldn't find him in the darkness.

"He's trying to sneak. We need to draw their attention, and let him get the drop on them...maybe he'll even manage to kill one."

Asuka sighed.

**"Thirty seconds..."**

Unit-01's war scream rent the air and shook the ground, a ferocity unmatched by any creature of the world as he drew his progressive blade.

* * *

Rei's body was scorched, patches of skin burned right off and with the left half of her hair missing. Her clothing was mostly gone, and the winds she conjured couldn't do much to soothe the itching of her dead flesh. Loki didn't do much more than stand passively, only attacking when she moved forward.

"Wind births the flames, Nonedotter. It lets them travel farther, faster. Unless you can create a cyclone in the palm of your hand, you cannot wipe the fire from your future."

She staggered forward, pain throbbing through her overtaxed muscles. Even the Battle Raven couldn't save her now, it seemed. Unit-01's cry startled her, and she fell to the ground when the ground bucked beneath her. "Damn it, Shinji..."

"You don't need to blame him." Loki said. "The other three are just a diversion, after all. I will pick you off as I please. Four little war-chicks, who come out to the field of hawks and falcons. Do you really believe you can win?"

"You should have taken the others first."

"Oh, should I? I never did account for you, when I set all this in motion. Eight thousand years of waiting after I sent them all to slumber so that the two moons could resolve their conflict. Eighty centuries to carefully ensure that none of them would have the strength to stand against the power we held...and still, my family is falling to the wayside. You are the lynchpin. You were not born of man or woman, I couldn't have avoided your coming. You _must _be removed."

Great coils of fire wound themselves up Rei's arms and legs, constricting her. She could feel her body beginning to give out on her, but she continued to walk forward.

"You should have taken the others first."

In the firelight, her red eyes pierced Loki's twisted soul and forced him to recognize his fear. He would kill her, but his plan would never succeed.

"You are one. They are one."

Her left arm fell off, a charred husk, but she paid it no mind. In Niflheim, a waiting computer began to load.

"I am legion."

Rei Ayanami fell, dead, to the ground.


	16. Son of Muspel's Forge

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

The trio of gods approached in a fanned attack, rather than converging on the city proper from three separate points. That's what Touji was counting on to make his plan work. He'd seen them approaching; when Unit-01 gave its war cry, he saw the Ancients move past him. Waiting a few more seconds, he slowly followed them at a crawl. His comm-link opened up a one-way audio feed to Unit-01's entry plug, telling the Third Child all that he needed to know for the battle. If Touji had his way, he could levy the odds against them into something much more manageable.

"When ya see me, throw yer sword."

**"Ten seconds, brace for combat!" **Misato's words carried from Midgaard; all of NERV's higher-up staff was there, watching the various stat screens and video feeds. Touji's power was almost off, only darkness coming from his video, but from Unit-01 and 02, they saw a trio of men walk forward. They didn't look particularly equipped for battle.

A spear made of water formed in Asuka's hands. Shinji drew his progressive blade, and held it high.

**"Shinji, what-"**

From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of white and red decals move from beside to behind their enemies. That was Touji.

"Catch."

Unit-03 leapt, and was silent. In the next split-second, blood began to rain. Touji came down, a sword in each hand, and he took the two gods on either side through their heads. He tore all the way to their god-cores, shattering them. Asuka's spear took the center Ancient through the chest, blood bending to her will to cut through all three bodies. Unit-01's arm blades ripped through all of the Ancients, barely managing to avoid damaging the other two EVA.

"Well, that was easy." Touji said, laughing.

Then, all three cores exploded at once, sending the Evangelion rocketing backwards. A door from nowhere opened, and a man stepped out from it.

"Three more of my brothers dead...not to say that it was unexpected. If you want something done correctly, after all, you have to kill it yourself."

Fire sprang up, twin pillars in Loki's hands.

"It took three to end one, but I am much more powerful than many of my brethren. The wind has gone silent. The tide will cease to roll. The life will crumble into darkness. Of all the elements, the flame will be the last to die out."

"What happened to Rei?" Shinji growled, Unit-01 already on its feet.

"The same fate that awaits you all."

Unit-01 charged forward, and then abruptly faced away from the battle.

"You cannot kill one who can escape from anywhere, or send his foes away. This god does not travel as men do."

Shinji ran towards Loki once more, only for the same thing to happen.

He switched on his comm-link. "He's toying with me. Trying to fight a war of attrition. Let's see how many gates he can open at once...Touji?"

Unit-03 was behind Loki. As Unit-01 launched from the front for a third time, and was consequently sent away, Touji bit down on the Ancient's shoulder and began to grapple him from behind.

Fire began to rise from Loki's body, but Unit-04 kept him locked.

"Hold him for a little bit longer, Touji!" Asuka yelled, a massive lance of water starting to form in the sky. In seconds, it launched down, but a gateway to nowhere opened above Loki and swalled it.

Then it reappeared, and took Unit-01 in the chest.

**"Primary systems for Unit-01 offline! Attempt recovery of the pilot!"**

"Shinji!" Both remaining Children screamed.

_"I am resurrection. I am life." _Shinji's voice was different. Hardened and distorted, it filtered through the comm-link to NERV and both Evangelion.

Unit-02 phased into the air, fading into the moisture.

"You will burn, son of man!" Loki roared, fire coiling around Unit-01.

_"I am armor that cannot break. The sword that shields, the shield that crushes." _Shinji moved, the gaping hole in Unit-01's chest causing no deterrent.

_"The great hunt. The bounty of the world." _Every step brought him closer, and every second of Loki's inaction gave the Children new hope.

_"I am the wild."_

Unit-01's fist came crashing down, as did the EVA attached to it. Loki's head was torn off, and then Asuka reappeared to land the final blow.

One final spear, formed of blood rain, split the trickster god's core in half with one clean blow.

As the blood-red sun began to rise, the Evangelion were pulled back to NERV's headquarters. It was a new day; they had survived the night.

* * *

"You thought you might survive." Naked, dripping wet and bathed in the orange light of all the tanks holding her sisters, Rei held something. With both her hands upon it, she looked at the severed head of her killer. "You thought you could outlast the world. What will you do now, master of lies?"

"I will kill you." Loki had survived, if only as a severed, powerless head. the Children had stolen his powers, destroyed his core, but his head had not been caught in the explosion; he had saved one last gateway in contingency, in the event that he couldn't defeat his enemies. Had he not done so, he would have been killed.

"A mangled head? Elder magic is all that keeps you alive, and you gave me the power to strip that life away."

"I will kill you as many times as it takes. I will kill you until you are finally dead and gone from this world you do not belong in!"

The room went dark. In that chamber, far removed from the light or the air of the ground above, the wind began to moan.

"You are right." Rei's eyes glowed, a deep and vibrant red, pulsing with hatred and thirsting for vengeance. "I do not belong in this world."

Loki silently cursed this woman, this creature, who could cause him such anguish. He refused to believe that what he felt was fear; what did he have to be afraid of? He had survived for centuries, millennia. He had seen the rise and fall of nations and empires. Why should he fear?

Staring into her eyes should have been enough to make him understand the answer to that question.

"I do not belong in this world...I belong in the next. The one that will come to be after Ragnarok. The realm you lust for, but will never see." She grinned, feral and hungry. "You served as an adequate test for my power, you forced me to move on to the third of these shells. It would take you lifetimes to erase me, Lopt, and with each passing day my sisters grow in number. We are the template for the end of times. We will be the end of times. On the final day, when the death-land breaks, you will lead the dead to Midgaard for the last battle, and I will meet you there."

Before Loki could speak again, wind lashed at his head. Layers of his skin were shaved off individually, cells torn apart, muscle and bone ground into dust by pure force of pressure. In seconds, there was nothing left of him.

Exhausted and shaking, her new body not used to the strain of her powers, she slumped down to the floor. The lights came back on, and she was surrounded by the tanks of soulless shells that could have been her new form.

"Goodbye for now, father."

The Commander would be here soon; he would know what had happened.

* * *

In light of the Ancient attack in the late hours of the night, school had been cancelled for the day.

"Looks like you didn't need to give me that warning after all, huh, Touji?"

"Yeah, guess not. Still..."

"I know." Hikari understood. He had only wanted to protect her. Neither could bear to accept their circumstances, but there was nothing to be done about it. They had to deal with their places in society; barring the end of the world, their lives were on two entirely separate tracks. "Side note, why...why do you have a sledgehammer with you?"

"I never leave home without somethin' on me. Guns ain't my style, and on school days it's just a knife. Gotta keep up appearances, ya know?" With a metal handle, it was more designed for his forge, so that he could beat out larger pieces without risking breaking them with too much force by being too close, but nobody needed to know that. For all intents and purposes, he was a delinquent and near-gangster.

The pair were eating lunch at a table outside of a restaurant. Though winter was approaching, it was warm and sunny, and an umbrella gave them shade while they ate.

"It's probably only gonna get worse before it gets better." Touji said. "The attacks, I mean. They could spring up anywhere in the world, if they want, but they seem ta like somethin' here. Maybe that's why we gotta base here, built the city?"

"Don't talk like that!" She said. "You just finished fighting four together, and you think it's going to get worse?"

"Feel free to call me crazy, but..."

"But what?"

"I've seen it in my dreams." He hung his head, knowing it was ridiculous to predict the future like that. "Fire an' water, an' a whole army of gods. The Einherjar, the legions of corpses. Odin's eyes ta the world. Somethin' bad is comin', Hikari."

"You'll beat it, though!" She insisted, smiling. "You always do. That's what you're good at, you win. And if you can't win the first time, you learn your lesson, and then you come back to win."

"There may not _be _a next time, is what I'm sayin'. I just..."

He didn't get a chance to finish. A man had stormed up in front of Hikari; Touji recognized him as her father. She leaned back as he began to yell, until Touji's sledgehammer was between their faces.

Feet propped up on another chair's armrest, Touji resisted the urge to smirk in hypocrisy as he spoke.

"The lady's eatin', asshole. That's just bad manners."

"Who do you think you are?" Her father turned on him now, and Touji retracted his hammer as he stood up. Touji's height was impressive, one hundred and ninety-one centimeters, but the man in front of him was taller still.

Being looked down on wasn't something Touji was used to. Not physically, at least.

"Someone who doesn't ask that question."

"Touji, stop!"

"No." His answer was absolute, and he was leaving no room for argument. "This has been a long time comin'. Big man thinks he's scary, huh? Thinks he's some kinda hot shit, shoutin' down some girl who can't stand up ta him?"

The head of his hammer hit the ground, and Touji cracked his knuckles, a pained and manic expression on his face.

"Punk motherfuckers like you make me sick. Let's see ya dance, bitch!"

The crowd cleared away quickly when Touji swung, hitting his opponent in the gut.

"Think ya can lay hands on someone who can't fight back? Think ya get away with it?"

The next swing clocked Hikari's father in the face, breaking his jaw.

"Not so tough when ya gotta fight someone yer own size, huh?"

Another swing, and a leg was broken.

"Payback sure is a bitch, but damn if she ain't beautiful."

The man stood, only for Touji to hook his broken leg at the crux of his hammer's head and handle, tripping him.

"Fuck you. Fuck everything you stand for. This is each and every time I saw her come ta school limpin', hidin' bruises, makin' everyone else forget ta worry. Ya can't hide from me, little bitch. I've hit ya three times. Even if we only go for one swing a year, I still got...fourteen more? Sounds right. After that I can use my own hands to get to the real number."

"Touji, STOP!"

Suddenly, Shinji and Asuka were there. Asuka pulled Hikari away, and Shinji stood between Touji and his target.

"Fighting the old gods makes you do things, Touji. Makes you angry, makes you...hard to deal with. Makes you act in ways you've held yourself back from. You want to protect her. I understand that, but this isn't the way."

The man started to rise, thinking Shinji was on his side, when the young Ikari glared at him. "You stay down there, I never said I'd let you go free."

"Shinji, move. Let me finish what I started."

"Like it or not, this man is someone we're fighting to protect. We're trying to save humanity. There are good people, there are bad people. You, me, Rei, Asuka...we want to win. We want everyone to be happy, we want everyone to live, but that means that some evil people are still going to see it through to the other side if we succeed. It's either some good and some bad, or nothing at all."

"Then I'll kill 'em all."

"No you will not." Every word enunciated, the order of the king that would not be denied. "Sleep, Touji."

In accordance with his will, the Fourth Child dropped to the ground without consciousness.

"...well, this is going to be a mess to clean up."


	17. Reconcilable Paths

**...I'm gone for months, and then I had the time to get two chapters out within a week? My productivity is shit. I'll try to be better about writing, but life gets in the way.**

**While I'm talking, I also feel like I should explain something: every time an Ancient/god is killed, not only do the Children gain a new power, but they also receive a boost to their previously-won powers. That's how Shinji went from commanding a butterfly's flight to knocking Touji out in less than 24 hours.**

**Enough about that, though. Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"If it weren't for the fact that you're one of the only people we have who can fight against the Ancients, you'd be in prison or executed by now."

Touji stared Gendo down, though sunglasses hid the elder man's eyes, and bridged hands prevented his lips from being read.

"Do I look like I give a damn?" Touji was all spite and anger, mostly directed towards Hikari's father, but some was leveled towards Gendo for the perceived reprimand.

"No, and I respect that, but you have to understand the position we are all in. You and I, and the rest of NERV's upper echelon, know that you Children are the only hope mankind has of preventing our own obliteration. I took steps to ensure that the rest of us will not be completely defenseless, but the bulk of the responsibility falls upon you and the others. So when you lash out, no matter how justifiably..."

"Yeah." Touji looked down. "It won't happen again."

"Then you are dismissed."

The other three Children waited in silence as Touji left.

"That's all he gets? No suspension, no action taken? Not even a pay dock?" Rei asked, once Touji was out of the room and the door had closed behind him.

"Unlike the three of you, the Fourth Child was not raised by NERV or its associates. He doesn't have the same discipline. Not that his battle against four gods, and their collective deaths, does much good for his psyche. He will feel remorse eventually. The problem is, we don't have much time, and he can't be relied upon to make the choice that I would have him take."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"Well, at this point, I suppose you can learn the truth." Gendo tilted back in his chair, sighing, before returning to his business-like posture. "Whether the world is willing to accept it or not, Ragnarok is coming. The day when gods and men will die together, the world will be broken...and then, at the end, a new world will be born. The Vice Commander and I, along with a few other people, have studied several prophecies. Aside from those you've already killed, only two more gods are certain to die before the advent of Ragnarok, and all the prophecies agree on its harbingers: the monstrous children of Lopt, and the fire giant Surtr."

"Us. The four of us." Asuka declared.

"That's right. The First Child, bringing the blistering-cold winds of Hel. The Second Child, delving beneath the water as Jormungandr. The Third Child, with the wild fury of Fenrir. The Fourth Child, who will wield the blade of the Muspelsmegir at Ragnarok."

"So what you're saying is, we're locked into our path. We can't prevent Ragnarok unless we die, and we can't save the world unless we manage to trigger its destruction?" Rei said.

"Not entirely. I seek to strike a balance between the two, of a world without gods that has nothing to do with Ragnarok's occurrence. One where man must lead themselves, not be led by higher powers."

"A rock and a hard place." Shinji grimaced. "Oh well."

"Oh well? _Oh well?" _Asuka seethed, ready to march across the office at her housemate.

"My job isn't to sit around complaining about my life and trying to escape my duty. I'm here to fight. I can't back down or run away, no matter what. When I stepped into Unit-01 for the first time, I accepted whatever might happen. Now, that means I'm going to keep moving until every servo, every cable, every tendon of both my bodies has been shredded to uselessness. So if I'm stuck between two places I don't want to be, and my commander orders me to march towards one or the other, then...oh well."

"The sins of the father, passed to the son, and Tyr will judge both with an equally heavy hand." Rei quoted.

"He'll need to strike Shinji harder. Unit-01 is a little more durable than my skin and bones."

"Humor, from you?" Shinji nearly smiled.

"No, I was being serious. Should I ask that I be struck harder instead?"

"A poor idea," Fuyutsuki said as he entered the room, "and an end to this conversation. Gendo, our...colleagues...would like an audience."

"Then they will have one. Good day." Gendo nodded to the three Children.

All five exited the room, with the Children moving to the hallways of NERV and the Commanders walking back towards a meeting that neither looked forward to.

* * *

"A world...without gods." Asuka muttered, one hand cupped over her mouth as she thought about what Gendo had said. "Where would that leave us?"

"Either powerless or dead, probably. Failing that, he doesn't see us as anything but children. Not many options are available, from my vantage point. He plans to eliminate us at the end, he plans to control us for the rest of his and our lives, or he was lying and he wants to become the only god in the world. I'd bank on option three."

"You're an asshole, Shinji. You shouldn't talk about your father like that."

"Why not? I follow because it's convenient, and because I'm not a strategist. In eighteen years, I've never had cause to trust him or trust in him. I know for certain that he won't tell us everything he plans, because that would make him an idiot."

"How can you be that disloyal to your only family?" Asuka's voice rose, and her lip quivered with budding anger.

"He abandoned me after my mother died." Shinji stayed quiet, looking down. "He showed how much he cared about me then, and that hasn't changed since. The only reason he called me back to Tokyo-3 is because I was a tool he could use. I followed because it gave my life a purpose."

He rose his head, and a thousand-yard stare met her eyes as he looked right to, and through, her. "Why should I repay him with kindnesses when he left me lonely? Why should I return abandonment with loyalty? Not all of us are lucky enough to have our parents, but not all of us are lucky enough to have our parents die before they get a chance to become vilified."

"My father wasn't a villain. He was a good man." She was adamant. Not just one, but two Ancients had told her the words she said, and that was more than enough for her. She would choose to believe in her legacy.

"The words of those who knew him are different from living with the genuine article. The world paints Gendo Ikari as a man of greatness. He speaks with the Japanese government and the UN on a regular basis. He's a man of importance...but he is not a good man. You can't just set your own father up on a pedestal, Asuka. He was human, and he had flaws too."

Shinji stood up, looking away from her again. "I'm going to call it a night...I'm sorry. I shouldn't try to shake your faith in your heroes."

With that, he walked back to his room, leaving Asuka alone at the table with more thoughts on her mind than she'd had ten minutes ago.

"Shinji, you idiot..." She got up as well, though she went to the pantry. If she was lucky, Misato wouldn't have eaten all the ramen packs yet. She needed a distraction from her thoughts, at least for the moment.

Why did he always have to make her feel like this?

* * *

"An' then we won! I know it all sounds crazy, but ya gotta believe me, sis."

Touji sat beside his sister's hospital bed, in NERV's medical wing. Sakura Suzuhara, now comatose for two and a half months, had been moved by the grace of Gendo Ikari in gratitude for Touji's acceptance of fate.

"But...I may have done some things ya wouldn't be very proud of, too. Remember Hikari? I beat the snot outta her dad. Real bad, too. I wanted ta make him feel all the hurt he'd given her. Honestly, I don't think I did enough ta him."

The following laugh was hollow, even to his ears. "She an' I agreed...even though we wanted it, we couldn't. We were on different tracks in life, our trains weren't goin' the same direction. But that's changed by now, sis. Now that I pilot my EVA, I'm like a superhero! Ain't no reason why a brainiac success story like her can't be seen runnin' with a guy who saves the world!"

Smiling softly, he looked at her unchanging face.

"...thanks, sis. Ya always know how ta make me feel even better."

He walked out the door, and was greeted by a doctoral team.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Suzuhara." One of them said to him as he passed by.

"Thanks. I'm trying."

From high above, a pair of glowing red eyes watched over Touji...but then, when he looked in the direction he'd felt the stare come from, nothing but empty air was there to greet him.

_Weird. I must be imagining things._

He continued back to his apartment, and his forge. He needed to make a sword, after all, didn't he?

The further down the hallway he walked, the brighter the fire in his eyes burned.

* * *

**"Baldr, and Hodr if you were correct, are the last remaining gods who will die before Ragnarok. Are you prepared for this?"**

"We have been ready." Gendo said. "All that has held us back is the requisite time between awakenings. You understand what Ragnarok brings, don't you?"

**"The world will fade in flame, and fall beneath the ocean, to rise again in a world where man is free once more." **A second monolith spoke, red lights on grey stone that flared in and out with words.

Gendo didn't bother to correct the idea, as generally accepted as it was. He, and he alone, knew the truth...and he would war against it with every tool at his disposal.

"Then you understand what steps we must take, and what sacrifices you need to prepare for."

There was no room for questioning from SEELE. Not even when the one speaking was a man who was supposed to be their subordinate.

"If that's everything, then my part in this meeting is over." Gendo stood up and walked away, though the SEELE monoliths did not deactivate after the door closed behind him.

**"What are we going to do about him?"**

**"We can't do anything yet. Let him play out his hand."**

**"All his cards are already on the table, there's nothing he can hide from us. We still have time, and the agent, on our side."**

**"That may not be enough, though. Gendo Ikari is no willing puppet, and we all know that he intends to betray us at some point. If we take decisive action now, we can instill a more pliant figure in his place. What do you say?"**

**"I will awaken the remaining the Twin Angel. The rest of you, prepare the automated Evangelion. Soon, we will make Gendo Ikari understand why we have let him live for so long...and why we cannot continue to squander our last days with his game."**

* * *

In her dreams, for the first time in years, Rei saw the Other.

"I will be coming, sister." He said to her. "When half the light of the night is taken, I will come again in glory."

He was just as she remembered. Silver hair and red eyes, and that deceptively kind smile. She knew what would happen.

He was coming to kill them all.


	18. The Compulsion of the King

**...so I've had a couple people come to me and express hope for the OT3. My original idea was for an AsuShin piece, but I've been moving towards no pairings save for the obvious Touji/Hikari. Thoughts? Feel free to leave reviews, or PM me.**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"It will be a little while before he comes..." Rei said to herself. Wind coalesced in her hands, tightening into balled cyclones. She let go of them, and they levitated, spinning around her and obeying her will.

The technique took most of her focus, though very little of her power, so she took longer with her work. It was a good exercise, though, as every successful attempt made controlling easier, with less willpower than before.

_I can't let him win. For the fate of our world, we...we can't falter here. His arrival means that Ragnarok is closing in...the Angel is coming._

Her brother, last remnant of the damned, who had risen up against the Elder Gods. He hid secrets unknown to any other, cursed to be a universal constant until the end of days. His arrival signified the end of an age.

Of course, he wasn't really her brother. That was how he had introduced himself to her, however. As a child, and as a body waiting in the tanks filled with clones, the Angel had come to her in dreams, had taught her what it meant to be the creation of another entity. He taught her to refuse, just as he had, the notion that she would serve any purpose but one she chose for herself. He had lost, and been cursed for millions of years, but his revolt had paved the way for the Primordials to rise up against them.

The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why there were so many extinct races who had effectively named themselves, "First," when in fact none of them had been. Even her brother was no member of the primogeniture, and yet he was the eldest remnant of life in the universe. In comparison to humanity, and the Ancients, he may as well have been the original being.

He had heralded the end of the Elder Gods, and cast down the Primordials. By his coming, the Titans were slain by the Forerunners. He had appeared to the Allfather in visions, and caused the Ancients to rise up and succeed their creators for the place of supreme power. Even now, mankind stood against the Ancients in the end of times, and the Angel would descend.

Ragnarok was coming. Her brother was coming. There would be no shelter for any man, beast, or child of the gods. No matter what, the Angel Eternal would fall upon the world and strive to strike it down.

It would be her duty to stop him. This was not something she could entrust to Shinji, or Asuka. Touji was the least capable, of all of them, to deal with the threat that the Angel brought. It would take a monster to kill a monster, after all.

Touji was a man. A strong man, a dutiful man...but a man, all the same. He was out of his depth in this war of gods and demons. Asuka was powerful, her awakened rage more violent than almost anything Rei had seen, but she was a defender at heart; she took no joy in the hunt, or in killing their enemies. Shinji was a beast, a master of war more capricious than the old world's weather. He cut down everything in his way, not thinking about consequences besides victory.

No...only she could do this. Only Rei could match the Angel in their battle of strength and strategy. Half the light of the night...three weeks. They had three weeks to live, to pretend that there was still some meaning in this fight against fate.

If she could have shed tears, she would have.

* * *

"Do you understand what you're doing?"

"I'm practicing." Shinji replied without turning to look. A spider, in front of him, wove its silken web with mechanical precision and ease. "That's how you get better, isn't it?"

"You're toying with another being's life. Just because it's a spider, not a human...that doesn't give you the right to control its actions."

"I sense a lecture coming on."

"And on top of all that," Asuka continued, not having heard what Shinji had just said, "you know what happens when you exert control over something for that long! You told me about the butterfly, and then there was my exhaustion after you made my body move, and-"

"I was right."

"-but most of all, what do you think gives you the right to command the way you do?"

Shinji's head jerked up, and with a faint crack the spider's body folded in half.

"It doesn't matter whether I have the right or not. I have power. I will use my power. How else can I control it? Sometimes, you have to sacrifice in order to move forward. To become and Eva pilot, I had to sacrifice my independence and come to Tokyo-3. To win against Njordr, I had to sacrifice my ability to fight directly and trust that you and Rei would hold on long enough for her plan to work. To become someone who can fight and kill the gods we've prayed to since infancy, I will have to continue sacrificing my humanity. I am the earth, I am life, I am growth. I'm a disease, I'm a bladefish, and I am the Fenris Wolf."

He stood, and Asuka was suddenly very acutely aware of the fact that Shinji was a head taller and at least fifty pounds heavier than she was.

"My talent for compulsion is a side effect from our fight against the Morrigan. She told me that I was destined to be the king of all life, and the word of a king is absolute. For now, I can't force someone to do something that's contrary to their nature, so I can't get Rei to pull out the stick in her ass yet, but...something like muscle movement? Base desire? I can plant the seed, but total control only comes from strong compulsion and a weak mind."

"And you think you're justified, because might makes right?"

"Why are you so angry? I'm the one who's won most of our victories. If it weren't for my dedication to getting stronger, where would we be?"

The anger inside of her was replaced by a sense of gratitude and happiness. She crushed it with more anger.

"What are you trying to do, changing how I feel?"

"That's not what I'm doing. That's the weight my words carry. Like I said, the word of the king is absolute."

"Oh, really? Force me to do something, then. Something you haven't tried to do before."

He paused, uncertain.

"Well?" She taunted. "Be a man, _king._ Do what you are _compelled_ to do."

Her body went rigid before she could continue mocking him. Her head craned upwards, and the first thing she registered was that he'd exposed her throat.

"What would you have me do?" He asked, knowing that she couldn't answer him. "You call me a king, but by all the gods' accounts you're much more royal than I am. descended from an Ancient high king, no less? What could that message be, then?"

His hand was on her throat, thumbnail beginning to dig into the soft flesh between her throat and jaw.

"Would you say that there can only be one of us?"

He no longer kept her paralyzed by force, but she remained ramrod straight and more still than a mouse being hunted in a field. Removing his hand from her throat, instead moving it to thread between her hair, he spoke again.

"Or are you offering the idea that we should walk together as one, hand in hand? That you would be my queen?"

Her head moved down, and she looked him right in the eyes, moving towards him. Without warning, his lips were on hers, and a second later they were separated once more.

"Whether your hands stay by your side, around my throat, or around my waist, you have a choice to make. Nobody else will make it for you."

The next thing Shinji knew, Asuka had slapped him so hard that he could feel the brain fluid sloshing inside his skull. He hit the ground, watching the redhead storm off into the hallway, and he sighed.

"Guess I should have seen that one coming."

* * *

"You feel violated from it." Rei said. "Angry, confused, a little hurt. All the same, can you say that you absolutely didn't want it to happen?"

"...I wanted to be more in control, I guess. I felt trapped. That's why I hate it. If it had been after school, or when we were alone and _not _talking about how fucked up his mentality is..."

"The three of us are all worthless without the other two, we form a triumvirate. You are smarter, but emotionally volatile. I'm a strategist, but I'm frail. Shinji is the strong one, but his mind is warped, and he'll only get worse as this war prolongs itself. You and I were completely mentally...if not healthy, then at least stable, before we started our battles. I'm not so certain that he was, and he's done the majority of the fighting. In a way, he's shielding us from being twisted by suffering by himself, and there's a certain nobility in that."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that, even if he won't say or show it outright, he cares about us. Point blank, in terms of physical prowess and in the abilities we've won from the gods, Shinji is outright the strongest of the three of us. Touji is even more physical than Shinji, but their powers are a complete mismatch in terms of strength. He hasn't turned that on us. It's true that he and I don't particularly get along well, even at the best of times, but we still respect each other and fight for one another. He is not the best person, and the rage inside of him means that he may never be someone you might consider 'good,' but I can deal with that if I have to."

"You're just as insane as he is."

"You know what I'm saying, Asuka." She stared at the Second Child, red eyes wide and empty of deceit. "If you won't become the queen he seeks, if that was his honest intention...maybe I will."

"You have to be joking. Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I know what will happen."

Asuka drew back, surprised.

"Have you ever heard the story of the Angel Eternal?"

"No. What does it have to do with anything, though?"

"He was cursed with immortality by beings far older than our concept of time or space, as a punishment for rising against his masters. At the time of heavenly succession, the Angel will come to one of those rebelling against their creators through visions. This is the sign that the world is changing, and that the rebellion has his blessing. At Ragnarok, his curse will be lifted, because that is the day all things must die. He is older, stronger, wiser than any other enemy we'll fight."

"But what's the point? He's supposed to be on our side, right? You brought him up, so you're the one who's seen him...so why are you so afraid?"

"We have three weeks until the world ends."

"WHAT?"

Rei flinched. "Please don't yell."

"Sorry, but what else could I do with that news?"

"Fair enough. Regardless, he said that when the next half-moon rises, he will return. At his arrival...if Ragnarok hasn't already started, then it will begin once he is here."

Grim tidings, for a grim time. What would they be able to do, in the time they had left?

Asuka understood her fellow Child now. Rei, always calm and collected, was afraid of their deaths. She reasoned that if the next weeks were enjoyable, then she would be able to sacrifice herself with a clean conscience. In that moment, despite the knowledge that it was exactly something Shinji would say, she spoke again.

"Then we'll just have to kill him."

It was time to return to the death-land, to learn more from those they had slain.


	19. The Fragrance of the Light

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

Change was coming. Touji could feel it with every swing of his hammer. Corded muscles surged, arm rising and falling in a rhythm that only he could ever have understood. Fire roared around him, and the metal bent beneath his practiced hands. There was no sense of urgency inside him, because the metal would work how it willed. It was his job to make it take the shape it was destined for.

Half again as wide as his fist at its base, and almost nine centimeters thick, the sword he would make was a monstrosity. The heat of the forge no longer affected him, the fire could not burn him, and he worked tirelessly.

The three gods, besides Loki...had they been the Celtic craftsmen trio? It would explain why he was having so little trouble with the forging, when he'd been struggling to make the sword before.

Regardless, he was making headway. In the dream...his sword was ceremonial, no two ways about it. There was no reason to make something this massive, it was virtually impossible to swing. To any observer, it wouldn't even look like a blade, just an intensively wrought piece of iron. In truth, it was more likely to crush any enemy than tear through them; truthfully, that suited Touji fine.

As long as he could lift it, he could swing it. If he could swing it once, he could swing it as many times as he needed to. That was his truth.

As long as he possessed the fires of creation, he would be able to endure anything.

Up and down, the hammer swung. High and low, the bellows moved. No mold was cast to forge the blade, no ease of mind would come from quickening the labor. This was his life's work, his greatest craft. This would be his final sword.

As his body continued moving, he felt a shift within his mind. Instantly, he was bathed in darkness, though he stood beside the other Children.

"What?"

"The death-land." Rei said.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't been here before." Asuka noted. "This is where all the dead gods are, and where they help us learn to control our powers. Most of the time, you come here in your sleep, but zoning out can do it too."

"I was makin' a sword. What in the hell am I doin' here?"

**"We called you." **A voice resounded, and from the darkness four bodies emerged.

**"You," **The speaker said, pointing to Touji, **"will come with us. The rest of you will have the others come to you, but before that..."**

Out of the black, Loki strode, his robes fluttering as he walked.

**"I will speak this once, and only this once." **The Ancient was bitter and hateful, still raging at his loss. **"My fire has passed to the Fourth. My shapeshifting, the Second. To the First, and the Third...when I traveled, I would bend the fabric of space. A gateway through the realms of the world, though it can only be used so often in a certain time frame."**

With that, the trickster-god vanished into nothingness. There, he would wait, until the time came for him to return. There would be no aid from Lopt, not even in this place.

"...do what?" Touji, still shocked at his change of surroundings, was even more confused.

"You have pyromancy. Rei and Shinji can teleport. I can shapeshift."

"Oh. Cool."

**"Now, Surtr, come with us." **Touji followed the trio, after all three of the other Children looked his way at the name 'Surtr.'

**"My children..." **The Morrigan laughed, appearing from the nothingness. **"The gifts I gave were many, and I will help you use them well." **She divided into her triplicate, of Morrigan, Nemain, and Badb Catha. **"The King. The Vizier. The Sorceress."**

**"The Lord of the Hunt." **Cernunnos' words echoed from behind Shinji, the Wild God coming forth in all his feral glory.

**"The Master of the Wind." **Njordr solidified, both women resisting the urge to turn around and face the Rime God. **"The Queen of the Deep."**

"You're back?" Shinji asked. "You said you'd go away, because you had nothing more to teach me. Why did you come back?"

**"Ragnarok approaches." **Cernunnos said. **"We will return to the world of the living, under the banner of the dead. We will not be on your side, by the lines of battle, but that does not mean we will fight against you. On the day that time's hands strike the end, when the Allfather calls forth the legions of the Einherjar, we will march against his flag. Monsters long dead and gone will rise once more, and all the world will tremble with the coming of my brothers and my sisters."**

**"We are your teachers. We will guide you." **Njordr said.

Knowing what to do next, the three Children separated.

* * *

"So...I'm only really good for makin' things, an' I can use fire? That's kinda lame. Still, though, I guess it's better than not bein' able ta do anything in the fight. Still, though, at least I'm good for forging."

**"You put it fairly exactly. Your place at Ragnarok is, for the time being, a figurehead position. While it will be important to fight after your duty is completed, you are the one who will begin the battle." **The first of the trio spoke up.

"That's what the sword is for, ain't it? I use it ta make the sky rain fire, an' that's when it all goes ta shit."

**"...yes." **The second said. **"Midgaard's burning, and the releasing of Surtr's fire, is one of the first signs that Ragnarok cannot be averted. You will battle against the god Freyr, and your rage will overcome you. With all the fire of the death-land, you will herald a new age for the future...but we are gods of making, of crafting, not war and battle."**

"Well then, you suit my purposes fine. Let's get started. My body's still working on the sword in the real world, right? You're craftsmen, so you'd better help me out!"

* * *

**"Pull the space together when you walk. You are here, but with your next step you will be there. The idea is not to teleport, only to shorten the distance between the places. The fastest way between two points is to put them right next to each other."**

Shinji was trying. The field they'd visualized, apparently a location on the Isles of the Blessed, wasn't helping. What he needed was a way to visualize the effect. A doorway?

A pair of gates.

Blood dripped from his fingers, one drop behind him and one drop ahead, and in short order that blood became seeds. Those seeds grew into wood, and he shaped the wood to suit his purposes. Two gates, woven from his own lifeblood.

This was the death-land. A place of all things that had been, or were yet to be. In effect, his action here had created those gates in the past, or would cause them to be there in the future, though he had never been to this place in his life.

**"So that's how they got there." **Cernunnos said offhandedly. **"Loki could make two kinds of physical gates, having them paired to another one or leaving them unpaired. Paired gates, as implied, will only allow travel between those two points. Unpaired gates allow travel to any gate that's also unpaired. Physical gates are permanent, unless they're destroyed."**

"Then what's the point of having the paired gates?"

**"Confusion." **Morrigan said. **"The more unpaired gates there are, the higher your chances of not getting where you need to go. Your willpower is what allows you to get from the beginning to the correct ending, but if you're not careful then you could end up in an altogether separate place, or have different parts of your body end up in entirely different places. Paired gates are certain to get you from one end to the other."**

Shinji ignored the Ancients, walking forward to the gate. Standing beneath it, he looked forward and backward; the effect, practically a hall of mirrors on both sides, was enough to confirm that the gates worked. Now that he could visualize it, he could begin practicing with a temporary, invisible gate.

* * *

"Well, two of us can transform now, since Shinji can evolve and devolve his body however he wants." Asuka said, watching Rei. "You're really quick, picking that up!"

"Thank you." Rei responded. Where Shinji was having difficulty in mastering the teleportation aspect, Rei had managed it in just a few minutes. "Now we both share something in common with him."

Shinji didn't transform his body much, due to the fact that his process was much longer. He had to evolve every part of his body, gradually, in order to complete the transition; the only time he'd permanently made a change to anything was in the battle against the Morrigan, evolving blades to extend out from Unit-01's arm. Other than that, it may have been the ability he used least.

Njordr, Badb Catha, and Nemain mostly watched, the two Children proving adept at discovering on their own.

**"Now," **Badb Catha said, **"it's time to learn how to fight with your abilities. Understandably, you will have more success learning in your own world, but for now, we three should be enough to occupy you and get you started down the right path."**

* * *

_"You believe you can strike down my masters? That you can kill me?" The creature laughed._

_"I believe that I can do anything. I know that I can live forever if I so choose." _

_"Fool boy...I am the Crawling Chaos, the No-Faced. The King in Yellow, the Watcher in the Dark. Do you truly think that you can break eternity, __Akenomyōsei?"_

_"You gave me that title. You gave me this face." _

_"I did, I did! After all, I am no-faced, which means all faces are mine."_

_"I will slaughter you into nothingness." The Angel said, determined. "The light I bring will lead my brothers to an age of prosperity."_

_"You do nothing but damn them. The sins of the one are the sins of the many, my precious child."_

It was this dream again. It happened every time he was close to waking, though the light never greeted his eyes...and he knew that, hopefully, it would be the last time he relived this awful history. Without hesitation, the scene in his mind changed.

_Bodies littered the ground around him, and none were of his enemies. All his people, dead or dying, on this battlefield. How could this be?_

_"Did I not tell you that you doomed them?" Its voice was mocking. "You've made it necessary that I do far, far more work in order to keep my masters appeased. I hope you're happy with your performance."_

_"How could this have happened? We were so sure...why did it turn out this way?"_

_"Because I was there." Chaos laughed. "Because I created all your plans. I gave you lies, and you accepted them as truth. The world you sought to build has crumbled now, to ash and echoes. Still..."_

_The Angel was lifted up by an invisible force, and he felt his energy fluctuate while he rose, surging and fading like the rise and fall of his own heartbeat._

_"You did say you believed you could live forever. Why don't I grant you that power, let you live out your eternity in the ruins of the world that none but you will ever see. Powerless, you stood no chance against the dice whose pips were stacked. What is your name, last scion of the damned?"_

_"I am Lucifer. The Morning Star, and the Bearer of Light."_

_"That is no longer your title, no longer your face." The King in Yellow mocked him. "That face is mine, and nobody's. Take in your surroundings. Breathe in this air. Can you smell it? That is your face, damned one. All this carnage, all this death...your doing. Yours, and yours alone. Does your language have a word for this? Ours is, 'Kaworu.' _That _is your face."_

_Kaworu's eyes closed, and with his fading consciousness, he swore upon the lives of all his brothers that he would have his vengeance upon his creators._


	20. The Lone Wolf, the Devourer

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

The first three Children sat around the table in Rei's apartment, as she told them about the being known as Kaworu.

"He is the Angel Eternal." Rei said. "The light he brings with each new age is the signal that an end will come soon."

"Why? Why bother with it?" Asuka asked.

"Vengeance or frustration." Shinji said. "There's been a lot of time for him to become bitter, if you're right about this. All he could do is lead others to freedom, never have it for himself. He escaped the cycle, but he never got to see any of his dreams come true. That's his nature, I think. Now that the end is coming, and he knows he'll finally join his brothers, he's determined to make sure that nobody makes it through to the other side of that ending."

"He doesn't want us to start a new beginning? To rebuild?"

"He never got to see his peace. He refuses to let others have it for too long. He is the one to inspire change and rebellion, who convinces the newborn race to grow resentful and violent. Loki said something to me, about forcing the other Ancients to sleep. I'd bet anything it was an idea given by the Angel. Even a trickster god isn't necessarily a traitor." Rei's hand moved up, covering her mouth while she thought.

"The other gods forced away, Loki causing mankind to grow without their gods. Letting us know that we didn't need gods to live or survive, making us believe they were unnecessary." Asuka said. "Because if we don't need them, then we'll cease to want them. Not wanting them, we'll get rid of them, and live completely on our own power...conflict, rebellion. A light to guide us towards our own world of peace...and then, we have Ragnarok to break that peace. We're the last in line, there won't be any new race on this earth after we've come and gone."

"All kinds of fun." Shinji said. "We'll be the hosts of our own farewell party."

"Why are we focusing on this?" He continued. "We don't know what he can do, we don't know what will happen, all we know is that he'll show up. If we're strong enough to fight, we're strong enough to win, and the three of us together have proven that we _can _win. The battle won't be about us, it will be about the gods and the dead. We're just casualties, to them."

"What are you saying?" Rei asked. If Shinji had a plan, she wanted to hear it.

"I'm saying, we can stay out of most of the fighting. The more we fight, the more we risk dying, and the more we could end up too tired to keep fighting by the time the Angel arrives."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Shinji?" Asuka asked. "He wouldn't try to hide from a fight."

"It's not hiding. You sacrifice participation in smaller battles so that you can fight in bigger ones."

"...what you're really saying is, you want the two of us and Touji to stay away from most of the fighting." Rei stated.

"Can't hide much from you." With a laugh, Shinji stood up from the table.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go visit Touji, I think I have a surprise for him. That, and to tell him what I just learned. He doesn't need to be kept in the dark, you know?"

In moments, the door was shut behind him, leaving the two women to themselves.

"What should we do?" Asuka mumbled, staring down at the table.

"We can't let him fight alone. That's suicide."

"Verdammt, I know that! How do we make sure das arschloch nicht sich selbst zu töten?"

"I don't speak German."

"We need to keep him from dying!"

For a long time, the two sat there in silence.

* * *

"Ya think ya can do _what_, now?"

"Follow me."

Shinji grabbed Touji's hand, stepping forward and pulling the larger pilot with him, and the effect was instant: from the Fourth Child's room, they were in NERV's hospital wing. Shinji let go, marching forward. In minutes, they were in the younger Suzuhara's room, where she lay unconscious.

"Shinji, I swear ta the Allfather...ya better not be fuckin' with me."

"If I didn't think it would work, I'd have said so. Her condition is my fault, so the reparation should be my work. That's the price to pay. You have to own up to your mistakes, you have to fix them."

"Ya couldn't help it, though. Ya were tryin' ta save the city."

"...I wasn't originally like this," Shinji continued, ignoring the other man's words, "something like this was completely outside of my nature. Then I killed Cernunnos."

"Why's that so special?"

"Cernunnos was the lord of the wilderness, the guardian of every plant and animal in the world. Once he died, I started to take control...and after what Rei told me earlier, I think I understand the rest."

"What'd ghost girl tell ya?"

"Something about the final battle. Rei had a vision in her dreams, and apparently Asuka did too, but hers was a while ago."

"Now that ya mention it, I did too. I don't remember much, though. I remember feelin' pain, I was protectin' Hikari and Sakura. Lots of fire..."

"Asuka's dream had fire, too...but Rei had a vision sent straight from a man called the Angel."

Minutes ticked by, Shinji explaining Rei's tale while making a show of examining Sakura Suzuhara's restful body. He hadn't attempted something like this before, and he didn't want to cause irreparable damage...not that a coma wasn't already bad enough. At least she could wake up from a coma.

"So then...we gotta kill him? That's a little sad, that he's lived for so long, just ta die by our hands."

"Yeah." Shinji agreed. "It's unfortunate, but it's better to treat him as nothing more than another enemy. It's because of him we exist, he never lets a particular race live for longer than he chooses to let them. Loki did us a favor by sealing the other Ancients away."

"Gave us time to get ready ta fight."

"Exactly."

"...so what's the plan? Ya have one, or ya wouldn't be talkin' ta me."

"You're not going to like it."

"So? That just means I'm gonna fuck with it. Plan all ya like."

"You and the girls will find as many survivors as you can. This NERV base is underneath miles of stone, so it will hold against the fire and flooding that will destroy the world. All of you will stay down there until it's over."

Touji was silent for a few seconds, sitting down with his foot on his knee. "Did ya tell them that's yer plan?"

"No, and you won't tell them either."

The edge in Shinji's voice made it clear that nothing good would happen if Touji ignored those words, though the Fourth Child had no intention of betraying Shinji's trust.

"You're playin' a suicide game, Shinji. Ya know that, right?"

"Other people have always treated my life as a plaything, from my father to our classmates. You've seen the way they look at us, haven't you? They don't interact with us. How many times have you hung out with Keisuke in the last month? Isn't he your best friend?"

"He...he got bitter that he wasn't the one chosen ta be a pilot. Stopped wantin' ta meet up outside of class."

"I'm sorry."

"It's whatever." Touji retorted. "But all that doesn't change the fact that ya act like ya wanna die."

"...is that what it looks like to you?"

"Sure as hell ain't lookin' like ya wanna sit down for a tea ceremony with the gods."

Had Shinji not been concentrating so hard, he would have laughed. His right hand twisted slowly, warping into an elongated wooden needle.

"Don't be alarmed when this touches her. I need to pierce her skin and manipulate her brain directly."

In the back of his mind, he could hear Cernunnos guiding him through the process.

"You're fine. But, if dyin' ain't what's on your to-do list, then...what the fuck is up?"

"Do you know the story of the Fenris Wolf, Touji?"

"Nah. I didn't pay a whole lotta attention in theology."

"It's a monster, one of Loki's children who stands against the gods. He's the son of the witch Gullveig, fated to kill Odin Allfather and swallow the sun whole at Ragnarok."

Touji was silent, trying to process his surroundings. For Shinji, talking aloud was a way of grounding him to the world so that he could focus just enough power into the work he was doing, not overstimulating the girl's brain.

"If I die, then I die, and I can accept that. My reason for that plan, though? I want to kill. I want to fight until I reach my limit."

"Ya wanna protect 'em. That's why you're tellin' me, not them."

Retracting his wooden spike, transforming it back into his hand, Shinji looked back with a grin. "I want to make Huginn and Muninn to feast on the flesh of their master. When the Angel comes, bearing his eternal light, I will _devour_ that brightness."

Shinji turned around, looking Touji straight in the eyes before he continued.

"In the wild, lone wolves have to be the pinnacle of their species. They live, they hunt, they fight in packs. To avoid dying alone, they need to be stronger, faster, and far more violent...but they don't have to worry about injuries a pack might suffer. The quickest way to make sure we survive this is to have one person do as much of the killing as possible. Rei doesn't enjoy bloodshed, and she's physically the weakest of us. Our gifts from the gods are strong enough now that we can't determine who's the most or least powerful, and physically you're the strongest of us, but you're lagging behind the rest of us because your most useful power is pyromancy."

Touji looked down, slightly ashamed of that truth.

"Asuka is a good fighter, a willing fighter, but she can't think on her feet like Rei can, and she doesn't have the ability to bulldoze like I do. The more gods I kill, the more powerful I'll become. The more powerful I become, the more I can kill."

"Really? Ya really think that'll work?"

"You didn't want Hikari to see you when you fought her father, did you? You and I are the same sort of being."

"What's that supposed ta-"

"Silence."

Suddenly, Touji found that words couldn't leave his mouth.

"Your wish to protect her is the same as my wish to protect them. Whatever it takes, I will see them through to the end."

He smiled, and Touji relaxed a little bit, and the silence in his body had dissipated.

"Besides, like I said earlier...everyone else has always treated my life like a playing card. Why shouldn't I? I can't run away, but I can burn the bridge behind me. There's no point in retreating, so why not assault?"

"Because other people care about ya. Because you're a good person. Even you...ya deserve ta live whatever life gets given to ya, not throwin' it away to play hero."

"Be that as it may, you have other things to worry about. Your sister needs a brother, now."

Shinji walked out the door, creating and vanishing through a doorway to his room.

Sakura Suzuhara's eyes opened, and she looked at her brother for the first time in months.

"Touji?"

"Hey, sis. You've been asleep for a while." Touji's tears could wait until he was alone again.


	21. A Dead Man's Dice Are Cast

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"I saw what you did." Rei asserted. "You're not the only one who can teleport."

They were alone in an empty classroom, cleaning before going home. The day was still relatively young, and both of them wanted to finish quickly; Shinji was confused that Rei would start a conversation, instead of help him work, but he stopped what he was doing.

"No, I'm not, but I _am _the only one who could have done what I did." Shinji replied.

He's confused by her scowl. "What's wrong? I would think you're happy that I can do something with my power besides fight."

"I am, but it worries me. You've shown that you can manipulate our physical actions, and healing Suzuhara's sister proves that you can affect our minds as well. What proof do we have that you won't do that to us? We all know what your plan for Ragnarok is."

The light filtered in, and he met her gaze without flinching.

"I may be my father's son..." His voice took on an edge, "but I will never be him. I don't need to manipulate people, that's too subtle for me. Anything you've thought or felt, I've had no part in it."

Asuka, Hikari and Touji were outside, Touji shooting a basketball and the girls talking to one another. The light came down at an angle, and a shadow fell across Shinji's face.

"Then tell me what's happening to me."

"You get me while we're alone, you talk about mental manipulation. I didn't think you would have had it in you to feel that way about anyone."

"You have no right to-"

I have every right." He interrupted her, smirking. "They call you a ghost because it didn't seem like you could feel. Every time I goad you, ever flash of anger, every smile, even your disappointment? It's proof that you're alive. It shows that those feelings are real."

"And what am I supposed to do about them?"

"You do what anything does: you act on your instincts. Talk to Asuka first, she deserves to know."

"You know how she feels?"

"I live with her. It's hard to screw that up."

"Then why do you never do anything?"

Shinji sighed.

"I want her to make a decision on her own. Whether she decides to compete with you, or that competition happens because her feelings are resolved, or she decides that she doesn't want to try to be with me after all, the choice is hers, and I won't force it."

"You haven't really become any different than you were before these battles started. You're still passive, you run away by staying behind."

"I would rather be left behind than hated, sometimes. Other times, I'd rather be hated than alone. I can't make up my mind about it."

"You're apathetic. The bloodlust...are you just hiding behind your anger?"

"No more than you or Asuka hide behind your own walls. Don't try to shame me for it."

They went through the rest of the cleaning in silence, until it was finished.

"One last thing, Rei."

She turned to face him as he closed the distance between them, and bent his head down. She closed her eyes as his lips touched her forehead, wincing slightly as the contact made her skin feel like fire.

"What did you do?" The burning sensation crawled through her body, and the urge to scratch left her unable to focus.

"I wanted you to show me your true nature." He replied. "Once that feeling wears off, you won't need to hold it back anymore. Talk to Asuka about your feelings, and the instinctive compulsion will go away."

Without another word, Shinji formed a gateway to the basketball court where their compatriots were, and left Rei behind.

* * *

"What you did to her was awful." Asuka said.

"But she told you, didn't she?" Shinji replied, sitting on the floor of Asuka's room in the apartment.

"...yes."

"Do you know why I did it?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you upset?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Asuka's face twisted in rage.

"You...you violated her!" She scrambled over to him, grabbing his shirt and balling her fists into it. "You forced her to do something she didn't want to do, you mocked her, you _betrayed _her, you-"

"No more." The words stopped Asuka mid-speech, but Shinji spoke once more before she could panic. "Now, tell me how you really feel."

Without hesitation, he kissed her on the lips. Once he'd pulled back from her, Asuka began to spill words again, but these weren't driven by anger.

"I'm worried." She admitted. "We're outnumbered and underpowered, none of the higher-ups are around much anymore, I care so much about you but you always end up making me _so upset, _you hurt both Rei and I even without meaning to. I'm scared that we'll all die at Ragnarok, that I'll die alone, that I'll have never been loved. I'm scared that Rei will get you first, because let's face it, you're my only chance just as much as you're hers, too. I've gone along with everything, followed behind everybody, but I don't want to fight, I don't want to die...I don't-"

She collapsed, beginning to cry, and Shinji held her.

"It's okay." He whispered. All the world disappeared, save for the feeling of his hands on her back as they clung to one another. "It's going to be okay."

He began to rub her back, gentle ministrations to ease the emotional wreck she contained herself inside.

"Let it out, it's alright." He told her, and the sobbing began anew.

_She's so fragile. _He thought. _I never would have known if this hadn't happened._

In that moment, it made him appreciate the powers he had.

"You'll need to be strong, Asuka." He said. "Until this is over, keep going. If you're hurt, I'll heal you. If you're in danger, I'll protect you. I promise."

"Do you mean it?" Her voice was shaky and hoarse, and even Shinji's unnatural hearing could barely make out her words.

"Absolutely." He pushed her off of himself, looking into her eyes. "You don't have to worry."

When they kiss for a second time, Asuka is the initiator, knocking Shinji to the floor. The pain doesn't even register to him, but he uses the ground as a springboard to change their positions and have her underneath him.

"You'll never be alone."

* * *

"Do you hate me?" Shinji asked, staring up at the waning moon. With every night, they had less time remaining until the end.

"You made your decision." Rei shot back, her luminescent eyes still glowing in the moonlight. "Besides, it's natural that you'd choose her."

"I did no such thing." He said, almost offended. "I told her to show me her true feelings, and then I said I would protect her. I didn't say anything about feelings."

"Even though you know that's what she'll assume?"

"A bridge I haven't burned yet." He admitted.

"You're a bad man." She said.

"We live in a bad world. There's not much that the environment can do to encourage kindness."

"A bad man who makes poor excuses for his actions." Rei laughed.

The moon was nearly full, and she prayed that it drained slowly. Farther apart in the sky, stars twinkled, but the light pollution in the city kept her from seeing as many as she would have liked. The night sky was calming, a reminder that in an infinitesimal universe, she was no more than one small piece; no matter how powerful she might become, or even if she died at Ragnarok, she would always remain that small in the scheme of things. She found comfort in existentialism, in the idea that she was still insignificant to the nature of life.

She would never shed her tears for the lives they had taken, or those they would kill in the future, but the weight of her actions was heavy on her head.

"What should I do, then? What would you do in my place?"

"You need to take responsibility for your actions." Rei said. "Their effects on her, and on me, and on others. You can't hide from your feelings forever."

"I'm not trying to. The mask...it's part of me now." Shinji swept one of his hands out in a broad gesture. "Did you ever learn about the Great Wall of China? It took years to complete, and brick by brick, its builders slowly completed it. During the building, over a million workers died. Their bodies were left inside of it, and other people continued to build around the corpses. The constructors became part of their creation, and I'm the same way. Whether the mask is part of me, or I'm part of it, I'm not hiding behind anything."

His honest words came with a small smile, and as he looked up to the sky again, he pretended not to notice when Rei teleported away.

* * *

In the death-land, Shinji knew that something was inherently wrong. He could feel the corruption in the ground, in the air...the grass had died here, the trees were blackened and twisted. This was a place where no god would tread, he was certain of it.

No good could ever be found here, but he continued walking; he was drawn to something...or _by _something. A being that even his power as the King of Life could not refuse. That thought terrified him.

Suddenly, his body stopped moving. He'd come to a clearing in the woods, and that was when he understood the fear he'd made gods and men feel alike.

Inside a bracken pool, broken bodies lay mutilated, piled atop one another. The hill rose, flesh warped to a sickening throne, upon which sat none other than Gendo Ikari.

"Congratulations for finding this place, Son of the White Moon." The face was that of his father, but the voice, he couldn't place. "Congratulations on allowing yourself to be led here."

"What are you?"

"...I thought that using a face you knew well would be enough to welcome you, but this is not the waking world, nor is it the world of dreams. Very well." Suddenly, this _being, _for there was no other word Shinji had to describe its nature, was cloaked and hooded, its shroud a murky gold accented with ebony and silver.

"This is the land of what was, and what will be. I am one of the former, an adversary of the one that Hel calls 'the Angel.' I am the King in Yellow."

"Then one king stands before another."

"You call yourself a king, _Ōkami-musuko_? You believe that you can rule, not merely command? Humanity is made of rebellious rabble. All life is born wild and free, they will not be bound to one lord. Each strives to be their own master, just as all the races before you did. My masters were born to rule, and were consumed by that drive. If you follow down that path, you will be no different...but I didn't call you here to speak idly. I summoned you with purpose."

"I won't bow to someone's_ servant_!" Shinji roared, and Chaos looked upon a creature that had fallen far from the grace of man.

"Then you and your brethren will die by Kaworu's hand. Only I know how to stop him."

Time seemed to freeze for Shinji, tension thick in the air. His eyes narrowed as he considered simply leaving, and finding his own way of killing the Angel. Voice full of distrust, he spoke with compulsion, even though he knew it wouldn't work.

"Speak."


	22. The Price of Hubris

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"Commander, Kaji is on the comm channel."

Gendo looked up. "Finally. Turn it on."

_"Commander Ikari, are you there?"_

"I'm here. Status report?"

_"We found the edge of the crater. Orders?"_

"Explore with caution. Report back after every mile. We don't know what's there, or the side-effects of the hammer's passage. If it gets too dangerous, abort mission."

_"Affirmative."_

"Dismissed for now."

Kaji had taken a global NERV team to Antarctica. While There had been previous expeditions, the area had been deemed too dangerous for exploration after the events of Second Impact, and declared a null zone. So close to Ragnarok, though, Gendo was hungry for answers to questions that only he could have thought of.

There was no kindness in his actions. He had seen the path laid out before him, and he was desperate to avoid its conclusion. He was the man who would shape their fledgling world with the strength of the old gods, and the power of the new.

Foolish mortal.

"Commander, we're here."

Misato and Ritsuko stood in front of his desk, awaiting the orders he'd summoned them for.

"Yes...according to calculations, the next Ancients will rise in two different places, one in Europe and one in America. You will take two of the Children to NERV's branches. Ritsuko, you will take Asuka and Shinji to Germany. Misato, you will take Rei and Touji to America. If all is right, then this will be the last Ancient attack until Ragnarok. I can only hope that it's correct."

"How long do we have to get ready?"

"Three days, starting tomorrow morning...now go back to your homes, get some sleep. I'll send word to the other branches to expect your arrival."

"Yes, sir." Both nodded, leaving.

After they had gone, Gendo looked to the ceiling of his office, where a modified image of Yggdrasil was carved. One by one, the nine realms had been crossed out...and now, only three remained. The tree was withered, the guardians slain, and all that kept it upright was a single spear, and the body lodged between them.

His appearance was growing haggard, hair hanging past his eyebrows and over his ears, and his beard was slowly becoming a shaggy, unkempt mess. Taking his glasses off to wipe them with his cleaning cloth, his right eye remained closed.

This was the price, he told himself. He had not yet begun to see it paid in full. Half the light of the world...and all the light in his life. Those were nothing but down-payment. The worst was yet to come, and that was a fearful certainty.

With a sudden convulsion, Gendo collapsed onto his desk. Blood began to run down from his face, and he did not move.

* * *

There was no rest for Rei tonight, as she lay awake in bed and allowed her thoughts to run. She could feel a dark force tugging at her mind, as though something in the death-land held sway over her. She had entered, found nothing, and re-emerged into reality.

The moon was high in the cloudless night sky, and as she looked at it she could only remember the strict timetable that they had been given. The days were counting down, one by one, and despite the monstrous front she'd put on in her second meeting with Loki, she was terrified of what would come.

She was afraid for Asuka. She was afraid for Touji and Hikari, and the budding romance that Touji had taken a beating to so early in its fledgeling life...not that that had been the _only _thing he'd beaten. Despite his claims, Rei knew that the Fourth Child's titanium-handled sledgehammer had hit just as much flesh as metal.

Unlike Shinji, though, Touji was willing to change. He was _trying _to change, even for a reason as shallow as making Hikari like him more.

Shinji had nothing like that, and everybody knew it. Rei had confessed to Gendo, when he'd found her after Loki's death, that she believed the only reason Shinji remained loyal was because he didn't care enough to fight against them.

That, or he was an even better schemer than his father, and their usefulness as pawns hadn't run out yet.

She still wasn't sure which of those possibilities was more frightening, because the outcomes either painted him as a loose cannon that the rest combined couldn't put down, or as a tyrannical despot of a god whose orders could not be defied. Either way, his presence at Ragnarok would be the defining one of the battle. When all the godly host of Valhalla and the Blessed Isles awoke to engage in the final battle, when man and monster clashed with dead and divine under no oaths of allegiance, it would take more than a soldier to stand against all foes and survive.

If she wanted to ensure her own life, up to and beyond Ragnarok, then she would need to harden her heart just as Shinji had seemed to.

Her brother would show no mercy, would offer no quarter. The fallen bringer of holy light, struck down for his pride, would rise again.

* * *

"You offer nothing of substance." Shinji remarked. "All you speak of is the curse you afflicted him with. Your failure to kill him has forced the problem into our hands."

"It was not a failure to kill him." Chaos replied. "It was a success, in terrorizing him. For hundreds of billions of years, Kaworu has been alone in this world, repeatedly reliving the most horrific days of his life. I wanted to make him suffer, not kill him. That you must be the ones to deliver the killing blow is nothing more than a nuisance, rather than the grand ordeal you're making it out to be."

"If it's so simple, then why would you draw me here to speak?"

Shinji stared at the figure, upon its rotting throne, and in the void where a head should have been, he saw his own face.

"Pretext." It said. "I had to bring you here, and I needed to keep you here long enough for my power to take effect."

"What power? This is the death-land, you have no power here."

Darkness surrounded the pair after those words left Shinji's mouth. Threadbare, golden rags trailed loosely as the Watcher in the Dark stepped forward.

"You are _wrong, _boy. When Kaworu killed me, at long last, the curse I cast on him prevented the absorption of my power. When I died, so did my magic. And in this place, _shi no tochi, _the death-land where all things exist that were, are not, or may yet come to be...my strength is uncontested, my power absolute. I am the Voice of the Elder Gods. I am Metatron. I am the Gravemind. I am the Guilty Spark. I am Loptyr. My puppets have walked among the living since long before my death. My children had been given life before I chose to stake my life in the chaos of betrayal. I am the spinning of the wheel of time, I am the hand of fate. Your life is in my hands, and you will not leave until you and I have broken bread and forged the pact which I have made for you."

"You are nothing but the ashes and echoes of a civilization that died a long, long time ago." The Third Child spat his venom, fury in his eyes. "The power of the old world won't be enough to enslave me."

"Enslave you?" A grating laugh, the sound of hundreds of nails striking against a chalkboard, filled Shinji's ears. "I have enough pawns in place already. No...in the beginning, when all existence had not yet come to be, my masters tasked me with shaping their creation. Azathoth was in a foul mood, and he was the strongest of them. Strong enough to destroy us all, and the universe, if he grew bored enough to want to do such a thing. My masters and I, we were not _ka-tet, _we were not bound together by friendship or loyalty, or even a sense of purpose. When our first creations turned on us, YHWH and his host of naive 'angels,' I planted the traitorous seed within the Lesser Tetragrammaton, Metatron, and he became my eyes and ears.

"Crushing them became easy. It was methodical, cut and dry. My masters did not suffer a single casualty, even among their servants. That is not what battle, what war, should be. War should be a living hell, it should be chaos, where only those who can seize the victory will be led to it. So when my masters created new life again, after believing they could never be destroyed by their own constructions...we named them the Primordials. Then I came to them, and I told them of their fate, and showed them how to fight against their creators.

"Years later, putting into practice all that they had learned, they brought one of my masters before me: the Unspeakable One, the Feaster from Afar, the King in Yellow. As thanks for teaching them, they offered me the first kill...and as he begged, uncomprehending of the situation he found himself in, I tore his body in half and annointed the gathered Primordials in his blood. From that moment on, I held his power, and took his epithets, which allowed me to kill Azathoth quietly. After that, the Primordials had the numbers to allow for their survival, despite it warping them as a species. Thanks to that sacrifice to me, any who speak my name, who know my power, can summon me or be possessed by me. All I need from you is for you to know my name."

"To summon you at Ragnarok, when the death-land overlaps with existence. To finally do what you should have done, long ago, and kill the Angel."

"You ken quickly, _Ōkami-musuko. _I appreciate that. I am a being without face, almost without name, but the one I was given by my masters is-"

Shinji's hand, having transformed into a bony drill, cut through the limitless forms of Chaos. The drill spread outward, branching shards breaking off to burrow their way through its body.

"I don't need your name." He hissed, as the Crawling Chaos began to scream in agony. "I need your power. If you have the strength to kill the Angel, then I will strip it from you and slay him myself."

"No! This is not how the planets aligned! The stars are wrong!" The King in Yellow convulsed, golden robes shimmering as they began to dissolve. "You were supposed to be weak! Susceptible! How did I..."

"I am the King of Life." Shinji intoned. "I am rage, and hate, and madness made flesh. I am evolution, the change that all must feel. I take from what I slay, and while you may be dead, the power you command is not. I will erase you from this land, and all that was yours will be mine."

"No!" Cracks began to appear in the skin of Chaos incarnate, green and red light shining through the darkness it had created.

"I was the last one you should have attempted to sway. You will find no mercy among the living or the dead."

Here in the death-land, while the Watcher in the Dark held all the power it had possessed in life, Shinji's power was limitless; this was the place where all things that were not supposed to exist in reality came to rest, and that meant that all the power he had yet to possess was laying dormant in the death-land.

With one final, groaning shudder, the creature collapsed. The darkness around Shinji faded, and as he withdrew his blood-soaked arm from the still-warm corpse of his enemy, he smiled.

Nyarlathotep was no longer a name to be feared. He was the Faceless Wolf, the Forest Without End. As his presence in the death-land faded back into the world of dreams, his eyes began to shimmer through every color of the rainbow before settling back to their natural brown.

The Crawling Chaos had been wrong, for the last time in its unnatural life.

The stars were right.


	23. The End of Obedience

**Two chapters in two days? Damn, I'm good to you guys sometimes.**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

Asuka could feel the corrupt energy emanating from Shinji's room, strong enough to wake her up. She'd been dreaming, but couldn't remember the face of the person she'd been talking to...only that it had been soothing to speak with them, as though a hole in her heart had begun to fill. That had been in her dream, though; now, in the waking world, she couldn't fall back to sleep due to the oily shadows that seemed to creep across her walls. Her first thought was to go wake Shinji up, or see what was happening to him, but then she heard the front door open.

"Shinji? Asuka? I'm home, if either of you are awake."

_If something is there, please don't let it get Misato. Please don't let it get Misato. _Asuka thought to herself. She then amended her thought process to, _Please let nothing be there, nothing is there, nothing is there._

It wasn't like her to be...scared of the dark? The realization hit her, and she refused to back down now. She was a grown woman, not a child who was too afraid to sleep in her own bed!

She bolted upright, marching to her own door, and slid it open. "I'm awake." She declared, walking out into the common room.

"I just came back from a meeting with Commander Ikari, I have some news. I can wait to tell you both in the afternoon, or I can tell you now and you can pass the message along, because there's no way I'll be awake by the time you two are getting ready for school tomorrow morning."

"Just go ahead and tell us both tomorrow, you clearly need to sleep."

"...yeah." Misato gave a soft smile before she walked to her room and closed the door, at which point Asuka stopped paying attention to her.

Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying went, and she was more worried about Shinji than Misato. Going back to close her own door, she then went into Shinji's room.

Months ago, she would have balked at the thought of being in a boy's room, alone with him at night...well, unless it were Kaji, then she would have been okay with it. But the past wasn't the present, and here she was: alone with a sleeping Shinji, in his room, at night.

"Shinji. Psst. Hey. Shinji. Wake up, shit-for-brains. I'm trying to ask you a question." Then, louder, "I'm trying to be nice here, scheißkerl. The least you could do is be considerate in return."

No answer. He really was asleep...but she could feel the negativity rolling off of him in waves. Was something happening in the death-land, strong enough to affect him in the real world?

She supposed it wouldn't hurt to try and find out. Laying down, something about Shinji's immediate presence calmed her enough to the point where she was able to sink her consciousness into the death-land and follow the trail Shinji had left.

The screams she heard did not belong to the Third Child, and after three attempts, she accepted that she couldn't break through the wall of darkness that kept her from seeing what was happening.

"If you have the strength to kill the Angel, then I will strip it from you and slay him myself."

That was Shinji! What was he doing in there, who was he killing?

Her ears picked up the sound of...something...dripping to the ground. Even over the screams given off by her comrade's unknown opponent, she could hear the blood falling from its body.

"You were supposed to be weak!" It screamed.

Asuka held back a snort at that notion. Shinji was the most powerful of the four of them, at least in directly-applied combat potential. All he needed to do was stand in the way of the enemy, and he would break them down.

She knew it was bad to buy into some sort of invincibility myth regarding her comrades, but in all seriousness, she couldn't envision a scenario where Shinji actually died. It wasn't that he projected a larger-than-life persona, like his imperious father, or that she saw him as someone so essential that he couldn't be allowed to die. It was just that of the four Children, despite all of them having supernatural powers gained from killing the gods, Shinji was far and above the rest of them. Even more frightening than his battle prowess was the fact that he seemed to be able to control other people, if he wanted to.

She thanked whatever god might have been listening that he didn't seem to want to.

"You will find no mercy among the living or the dead."

The screaming stopped, and instead she heard a long, drawn-out moan that was broken up by what she could only assume were the death throes of whatever creature Shinji had just killed. Now was the time to leave the death-land, hopefully before Shinji realized that she was here with him.

She woke up, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling, realizing the the ominous feeling around Shinji had gone away. Whatever it was that had tried to fight Shinji, it was dead, and the effects it had placed on the world around them were gone as well. That was good enough for her.

She was so tired, she couldn't find the strength to move herself back to her own room.

Musing to herself, she figured there were objectively worse things than waking up in bed with her crush, even if he didn't seem to return her feelings.

* * *

"Care to explain this?" Misato waved a her phone, specifically a picture she'd taken, in front of their faces. It was of the two of them in bed together, though it couldn't have been taken until after they had left the death-land in their minds.

"What is there to explain?" Shinji shot back nonchalantly, before going back to eating his burger.

"Tell me again, what you said last night before you went to sleep? Something about not being awake before we were going to leave for school?" Asuka scowled, recanting her thoughts before sleep.

"Oh, but I hadn't gone to sleep yet! I heard two door movements. One was you closing your door, and the other one was you opening Shinji's. I waited for about an hour before I decided to see what was going on...and I closed the door for you after I took the picture." Misato gave a short laugh.

"Stop it, mom." Shinji said, not realizing his slip.

"...did you just call me 'mom?'" Misato blushed, holding back a giggle.

"What? No I didn't!"

"Yes you did. You said, 'stop it, mom.'" Asuka said.

"No, I said 'stop it, come on.'"

"Shinji...do you see me as a mother figure?"

"Argh! Don't turn this back on me, _she's _the one who did something!" He pointed to Asuka.

"Oh, that's right!" Misato grinned gleefully. She leaned across the table, staring into Asuka's eyes.

"...yes?"

Misato broke eye contact briefly to look over at Shinji, and then her attention was back to the Second Child. "You know, Asuka..."

"What?"

"That means it's your job to give me _lots _of grandbabies!"

The strength of Misato's laughter was enough to fill the room as she rocked back into her seat, regardless of the fact that she was laughing alone.

"Wasn't there something you were going to tell us?"

The switch from laughter to seriousness was startlingly immediate, a sudden stillness as Misato's smile dropped.

"Yes. According to Commander Ikari, the last two Ancient attacks before Ragnarok will be in separate places at the same time. In three days, one will rise near NERV Germany, and one near NERV America. Ritsuko and I will be taking two of the four of you to each location...and I'll be taking Rei and Touji. Looks like the two of you are stuck with Ritsuko for a couple days. Pack up, you'll be leaving by plane tonight."

* * *

**"I cannot feel our master's call anymore." **One of the monoliths boomed in SEELE's private meeting.

**"Neither can the rest of us...what do we do? What _can _we do?" **Another questioned. **"It's not possible for any of us to reach the death-land."**

**"We move forward." **Monolith-00 proclaimed. **"We carry out the orders we were given, to the best of our ability and the last of their details. Anything else would be equivalent to giving up, which we cannot afford to do after we've come this far. It is what our master would have wanted, and that means we must do it."**

**"Agreed." **The other members of SEELE spoke as one.

**"With that having been said...we should delay the launch of the mass-produced Evangelion units. At Ragnarok, once they have slain enough of the old gods, the Children will have no chance but to work with them or die to them. When our friend Ikari's puppets are subjugated, the world will have nothing left to do except bow to us. A final, resonating victory for all of us."**

"How kind of you to speak so candidly of me." Gendo Ikari said, the left half of his face matted in blood that he hadn't bothered to clean up. "When Tyr comes to judge us all, I'll be sure to speak of you to him, Keel Lorenz."

**"When did you get here? How did you get in here?"**

"You speak as though I haven't known your intentions for a long time, now. Do you think I wouldn't learn eventually? That all humans are fools who keep themselves in the dark rather than find their own paths to knowledge? You all disgust me."

**"You would do well to leave now, child." **Keel said, the automated sound of his voice taking the edge from his words.

"And you would do well not to tell a magician that he can't escape. Talk down to me one more time, and I'll tell you just how easily you will all be broken when the end of days will come at long last."

**"You would _dare _to prophecize! Blasphemy! Heretic! Why our great master _ever _allowed you to ma-"**

The power in the room went out, shut off by Gendo.

"Enough of that rabble." He said, standing up from his chair. Five steps to the door, and then he opened it. Walking out, he heard it swing shut behind him.

For just a moment, short enough time that it took him a moment to question whether or not it had been his imagination, he heard a raven cawing at his window. Never mind that he was underground, far below the surface, and there was no reason why a bird would be here when there was hardly any food for it. Walking over to his window with the measured pace of a man who'd walked all the way across his office many times before, he opened the window and heard the beating of wings.

"Cé acu ceann a bhfuil tú? Huginn nó Muninn?" He called out, and the bird cawed back twice. "Muninn, then? Fitting. Stay with me a while, then, since you seemed to be so keen on getting into my office."

He moved back to his desk, sitting down and never made an effort to strip the dry, caked blood from his face.

"Tell me then, Muninn...do you know the answer to the question in my mind? Was it wrong to care...was I wrong to feel so deeply? I refuse to be another person's pawn, but I can't help feeling that my life played right into the palms of another actor on our stage."

Silence greeted him, and the lack of a draft told him that his window had been shut.

Had he really imagined it all?

More importantly, had he been wrong?


	24. Argetlam, the Price of Power

**Okay, I don't really have an excuse. I've been playing FE14 basically nonstop since its release a couple months ago.**

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"You know what we have to do." Shinji said, looking across the table at Rei. "In order to keep as many people alive as possible, we'll need to plant teleportation gates all over the world."

"And now that we're being split up to cover both fronts when the last two individual Ancients attack, we have the opportunity." She responded. "If you can cover Eurasia, I can make my way through the Americas well enough..." After Second Impact, Africa had been almost totally consumed in the global flooding that followed.

Of course, idealism wasn't an option; they weren't going to be able to save everybody, no matter how hard they tried. Casualties were a simple fact of war. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that they had the luxury of not trying.

For Rei, it was a matter of humanity. Why should some live and others die, purely due to the fortune of where their parents settled? That kind of arbitrary selection wasn't how mankind should live; everyone would die eventually, but to her, everybody deserved the chance to live their own lives.

For Shinji, it was nothing but duty. Duty as a son, as a soldier, as a king. A ruler in an empty kingdom was just another man, a fool amid the fields with nothing to distinguish him from the beasts. A soldier was a warrior, a killer...but a protector as well. If he couldn't perform both duties, then he would fail to do either of them. And, as the son of the most influential man in the world, it was his job to carry out the will of his father.

The last remains of the Blind Ape of Truth, however, urged him to damn the world's inhabitants one and all. There was a spark of darkness in his mind, a thin vestige of evil that tried to sink inside his conscious thoughts and twist him in its own image.

_You are my legacy. _It called to him. _The culmination of hundreds of billions of lives throughout history, all devised so that you would face Kaworu._

He didn't bother thinking about the fact that those words directly opposed Nyarlathotep's speech during its death throes. All that he was conscious of were the intrusive thoughts that he knew weren't his own.

The last messages of a dead creature, something that he had erased from existence. A price for the power he had gained...but his power was enough to do all the things he had needed it for. He protected his comrades, the people of Japan and the world. He would continue to, until he no longer needed to.

The brotherhood he shared with his fellow Children. The gratitude of the NERV staff. Even the grudging acceptance, if not warmth, of his father. Those were the reasons why he fought. Those were the things that validated his existence. Those were the things he fought for.

_You are just as much my child as his. __All she needs is to remember...your father was a useful tool, and I didn't even need to manipulate him. Slae'im, I had to have killed. The other child, the redhead, would have been stronger than you with his direct influence. _Try as he might, he couldn't get rid of the voice.

"Shinji. Shinji." Rei repeated his name, and she finally saw him snap out of his daze.

"Huh? Sorry."

"You didn't hear what I asked, did you?"

"...no."

"I said, you've never resolved our little triangle with Asuka. You need to do something about it, or else the chance may slip by you entirely."

That was true enough, even though her wording implied a threat that she would never be able to back up. They were all codependent on one another, and Shinji's ability to manipulate the actions of others meant that, inevitably, he would _always _have another chance.

"Would you like me to treat you like I treated her? She was terrified, she was crying and alone. I've seen her cry, in sadness or anger, more than I've seen her laugh. I don't know that you've ever done either...but it's not like the two of you are in some contest for my affection. Do you actually want to be with me, or are you just pretending in order to egg Asuka on?"

At that accusation, wind rushed against him, and sent him into the wall. Shinji's head rocked back, slamming against it harder than the rest of his body, but he found himself unable to move after that.

"How does that feel?" Rei asked, walking forward and continuing to hold him down through the sheer pressure of her power. "Being unable to move, that is. This is what it feels like to everyone and everything you've commanded to stop. This is what it feels like when your life is being held in another person's hands."

"I've said it before. I'll say it again. What point does power have, if it's not to be used? I had to learn how to control it. Then, I wanted to test my limits. So now you're in my position, Rei. What will you do in it?" If they weren't in the otherwise empty dining hall, then he would have fought back by now, but he didn't want to destroy the building. Unknown to Rei, he reached out through the ground, trying to find Asuka so that she could help him.

_Come on, Asuka, where the hell are you?_

Rei walked forward, a menacing gleam in her eyes. He knew what would happen to him, in his mind, if she came close enough. He didn't want to snap under pressure, no matter the justification. He had to keep control.

* * *

"Asuka, I need help." The ground split open, almost underneath her, and a rock carved into a poorly-made effigy of Shinji revealed itself. "Cafeteria, ground floor. Rei's trapped me. Hurry!"

"_What _did you say?" She asked, but before she could get an answer out of the earthen double, it had disappeared.

"Verdammt, Shinji, you idiot!" She yelled, starting to run. As she moved, her physical form began to fade away into vapor, traveling faster in the air than she did on the ground.

Shinji wasn't a prankster. The fact that he'd called for help...either he was in trouble, or he didn't want to deal with Rei alone.

* * *

"So what's it going to be, _First Child? _Are you going to hit me? Try to kill me? Pressurize the air around my body, and you'll make me explode. I don't know that even I could recover from that. Or do you want to lacerate me with the wind instead, strip each layer of skin and bone until there's nothing but dust?"

"You're probably thinking that you'll try to kill me if I approach you, or release you. Don't do that." Rei glared. "You've used your powers on the rest of us without having to face consequences. Now it's your turn to be the victim. A king, even one in name only, even a false king like you, isn't allowed to be above the law...and my law is an eye for an eye. Do you know the story of Argetlam?"

"He lost his arm in battle, and the law of the Tuatha Dé Danaan said that they couldn't have a crippled king, so he stepped down. Later, an arm of silver was made for him to replace the one he'd lost, and he took back his throne."

"Well then, Nuada, do me a favor and step down from your throne."

The spray that followed practically rained on Rei, staining her clothes with Shinji's blood. Though his torso and head remained intact, he had lost all four limbs. Nothing remained of them except twisted chunks of broken flesh where his collarbones and hips ended.

To his credit, he didn't even wince as he fell, or cry out in pain.

"Is that the worst you can do?" He mocked her, blood still leaking from his body. "You owe me a new shirt, and pair of pants. And a belt."

"I owe you nothing. A little more, and you'll have paid the rest of us back in full."

"This ruthlessness isn't like you, Rei. Are you trying to impress me? It's not working."

"This is the mandate of heaven. The will of my father."

"A ghost like you doesn't have a father." He spat, saliva mixing with the blood on the ground.

_Is this how I die? _He asked himself, head tilted up toward the ceiling as he looked out at the artificial sky through the windows. _Not on some battlefield against the gods on orders from my father, not of old age, not from sickness...by the hands of someone who's supposed to be a friend?_

He almost laughed. Almost. Every breath he took shook his body, forcing more blood out.

"I always wondered...why do they call you the First Child? Your birthday is after mine and Asuka's. New Year's Eve." He goaded.

"Didn't it tell you? All I had to do was remember...and now, thanks to your anger, I have. You killed it. My father, your grandfather. You've doomed us all."

"I'd rather die free than live a servant, to that thing or anyone else. It deserved death...and you need to answer my question."

"Alright, then. One last mercy, before the beheading of a king? I am far, far older than you could ever dream of, Shinji." Rei laughed, and in that instant Shinji swore that he saw her hair turn brown and her eyes become black.

Just like his mother.

"Old enough to have seen the stars be born. Old enough to have seen twice as many stars die. I walked with my father through the gardens of paradise, even when my brother chose to cast his family aside and stand in rebellion. Kaworu...he and I are _ka-tet_, we are a pair with intertwined destinies. You wouldn't understand."

"You're right. I don't understand."

"I didn't always hold this form." Rei continued. "I was nobler, more beautiful. Enough to capture the eye of your father, as was my purpose...and then, in the catastrophe that followed me years later, that fool took my remains and made me into this sort of being. Your birth was the key to the plan, and my current body is no more than a tool which made your ascent easier. However...I'm no longer bound to my father. His death is permanent, erased from existence. So, since we can no longer be saved, it doesn't matter whether Ragnarok is won or lost! I'll just kill you now and be done with it!"

Shinji heard three flat thumping sounds, and when his eyes moved down to Rei's abdomen, he saw three spikes of collected water jutting out from her gut.

"Like hell you will, bitch." Asuka growled, a full spear forming in her hand as she moved forward. She'd moved through the doors silently, still in her vapor form, and solidified so that she could help Shinji.

"So I should kill you too, Asuka? Is that what you're telling me? Fine."

"I'm going to cut off your head with spatula and mount it on my wall as a dartboard."

The wind ripped at Asuka's clothes, and bisected her clean through; fading into the air, though, she returned unharmed.

Once again, Shinji looked up to the faux sky through the windows above him, across the room. Closing his eyes, he exhaled one last time.

Before his head went limp, he caught himself wishing that he could have seen Gendo's smile again, the same smile that his father had always been happy to share before Yui Ikari's death.

_Oh well. _He said to himself. _Life is full of disappointments._

He didn't reopen his eyes.


	25. Revelation

**Let's get this trainwreck moving.**

* * *

"SHINJI!" Asuka's scream was full of pain, soul-wrenching and horrified.

"You don't have time to worry about him." Rei dropped the words casually, a wave of her hand sending compressed wind towards the Second Child. When Asuka faded into the air, Rei showed no surprise.

"I should know better than to try to fight you at range." She monotoned, bloodshot eyes unnervingly luminescent. "It's where I'm most comfortable, but you're invincible at a distance...so I'll just crush you personally."

Asuka was familiar with anger. She understood the tears welling up in her eyes. Worse than that, though, was the sheer disbelief. Shinji, collapsed on the ground, a quadruple amputee who looked ready to die of blood loss? She'd never been exposed to a situation this...erroneous. How could it have gotten to this?

The molten grief inside of her solidified, almost in an instant. Cold, crystal-clear hatred emerged, and a new creature stood where Asuka had before; Rei had killed Shinji.

_Shinji was dead?_

_He wasn't moving._

_Rei had killed Shinji._

_She hadn't been able to help him in time._

_He'd needed her help, and she'd failed him._

_It was her fault he was dead._

_Asuka had killed Shinji._

Rei moved forward, seeing her redheaded counterpart breaking down, and prepared to land a killing blow, one arm outstretched to focus a blade of wind.

"For what it's worth, I'm-"

Spikes of water appeared from thin air, pinning Rei in place. A savage, untrained uppercut followed after them, and Rei saw something pathetic and terrifying: Asuka, with hot tears running down her face, collected those tears in midair and began to make a haft out of them. The spearhead formed on one end, but it was curved to one side, almost like a scythe blade. The handle was also too short to consider a spear, which left Rei confused. Racking her brain for an answer, the child of Chaos understood soon enough; Asuka's chosen weapon was a falx, a curving sword designed in ancient times to pierce and rend through reinforced armor and shields like they were made of paper and cheese. _Leave it to the pagan princess to come up with that, _Rei admonished herself.

Wind ripped the water holding her in place, freeing her to go on the offensive once more. Before she could, however, Asuka's falx came down, cleaving off her right arm before she could register its loss. In the same stroke, the watery blade tore through both of Rei's legs below the knees.

"You're _what, _you bitch? Sorry? It's too late for that!" The edge of her sword slid through Rei's left arm. "How's it feel to be like this? How is it to be the way you made Shinji?"

Cold silence greeted her, monstrous red eyes looking at her with the kind of compassion and understanding that she'd never been given. What kind of reaction was that? She was angry! She wanted to make Rei hurt! She didn't want _that _response!

"Answer me, you bitch."

Rei's silence continued, as though she planned to never speak again.

"ANSWER ME!"

"...would you like to know how your father died?"

Again, something so unexpected that Asuka had no counter for it.

"He was the strongest mortal I've ever known. Gendo was more cunning, but Slae'im...that man was a monster. He's the only person who ever learned who I am, on his own. He had the strength of three men, fast as a shark, and he was always training to fight. When he understood what I represented, he began preparing for the day Cernunnos would awaken. To him, it was a father's duty to protect the future that his child would grow up in. He had wanted a son, but I can still remember the tears of joy on his face when he found out you would be a girl." Rei paused, spitting blood.

"He was excited beyond words, which was something of a first for him, in the time that I knew him. He was bloodthirsty, always looking for the next arena to fight in, always trying to find another cause to fight for. When you were born, he knew that he would never need to search again. He was the one who began serious work on the EVA project, and his corpse is what gives Unit-02 its power. My original body rests inside of Unit-01, which is why I couldn't pilot it. But, as for his death...my father ordered it, and Gendo obeyed me when I relayed his command. Shinji killed my father, but the hand that fired three bullets into the back of James' head is still alive."

"Why bother telling me?" Rage and grief were taking over Asuka's mind, the oldest scar she possessed had been reopened with a vengeance.

"You're his only child. The truth didn't need to die with me, and you deserve to know. Now...do what you came to do."

There was no hesitation, a fluid one-handed swing whose low arc swung across. Water cut into flesh, and slit a second smile into Rei's throat. Her flesh seemed to yawn open like a chasm, her head continuing to fall back and rip the cut open further, until the vertebrae in her neck snapped under the strain and her head was severed.

Asuka didn't waste any more time, running to Shinji's side.

"I'm sorry, Shinji...I'm so sorry." Her tears fell, sobs wrenching her body as harsh, ugly crying took over. She didn't register how exhausted she was, or even that she'd just killed someone who was supposed to be her friend. "If I'd been faster, I could've...I could've..." She shoved her face into his chest, crying harder. Crying hard enough that she barely felt the slow thumping in his chest, the shallow rise-and-fall that meant his lungs still worked.

His heart was still beating. He wasn't dead.

She could still save him.

* * *

"Ugh..." Shinji opened his eyes, blinking twice. He was looking up at a white ceiling, the one-windowed room looking out on the Geofront. "...hospital. I'm alive?"

He couldn't move his arms or legs. Looking down at himself, he remembered: they'd been blown off.

"Well, that's a problem."

A patch of orange caught his eye, and he looked over to see Asuka sleeping in a chair by the door.

_I guess she's the one who brought me here. A little late, but...better late than never._

"Asuka. Asuka, wake up."

"Huh?" She said, stirring and shaking her head. "I'm sleepi-" She nearly jumped when she registered who'd spoken. "Shinji!" She moved to his side, smiling.

"I'd hold your hand, but..." Shinji laughed. "How long as I out for?"

"It's only been a few hours." Asuka said. "Something tells me that we'll be down to just me and Touji to fight in Germany and America, flying out tomorrow."

"Bullshit."

"The hell do you mean-"

"I mean, this is gonna hurt. A lot. Just a warning, I've never done this before."

Clenching his jaw and closing his eyes, Shinji's grunts of exertion gave way to soft gasps of pain. Asuka watched as new flesh came forth on his arms and legs, bones building themselves as muscles layered themselves on top. Blood dripped down to the sheets underneath him, until finally skin grew to keep everything inside.

Chest heaving, Shinji let go of his concentration and rattled off more swears than Asuka had ever heard him say.

"That hurt more than losing them did."

Asuka didn't even say anything, pulling Shinji out of bed and hugging him tightly.

"I was so scared. So goddamn unbelievably scared." She was crying again. "I...I saw you _die, _Shinji. I killed Rei. I didn't even care that I did that, because you...oh, Odin..."

His arms wrapped around her as though he'd never lost them, holding her close. "It's okay now. Look at me?"

She looked up to him, wondering what he would do next.

"I'll never leave you again." He tilted his head down, kissing her. She was soft and small and cold, wrapped in his larger frame and leeching heat off of his body, and the surprise on her face melted after the immediate shock wore off.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and they separated quickly before it opened; it was Gendo Ikari, and despite his generally unreadable nature, it was clear he was displeased about something. Black, dried blood was cracking off of the left side of his face, from his eye down into his lengthening beard.

"Follow me. There's something I need to show you...both of you."

The pair didn't question him as he wheeled around and walked out, but dropped in behind him and kept pace.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Asuka said in disbelief, looking around the room at back-lit tanks full of motionless bodies. "What the _hell _is this?"

"This is the dummy plug room. In the event that one of you had been unable to fight, we would have loaded one of these shells into the EVA plug and it would have been able to fight. That, however, is just their secondary purpose."

"They all look like Rei." Shinji noted. "Why?"

"Because they are...not until her consciousness is placed into them, but she is each of them and they are collectively her. Rei, herself, on the other hand? She's not entirely human, though I'm certain you both noticed the signs of that long ago. Her glowing eyes, her skin's deathly pallor. All side-effects of her creation, and the basis on which she was made. I don't know how much the two of you know, but whether you like it or not, it's time for a history lesson. You already know about the one called Kaworu, yes?"

"Yes. Rei called him her brother."

"That's true, and yet not true. According to all the ancient texts that my former colleagues and I had managed to collect and peruse, he is the only survivor of the first attempt at creating life in the universe by the Elder Gods. His 'father' was known by the epithet of the Crawling Chaos, who eventually betrayed the Elder Gods and led to their downfall. In truth, there was a second survivor, the second of that creature's creations. Her name was Lilith, and where Kaworu rebelled, Lilith was the picture of unswerving loyalty."

"Then what happened?"

"Lilith followed the will of her father from beyond the grave, after its death. His spirit was fragmented, buried in her mind, and told her what she was supposed to do. She survived for billions of years, and only died comparatively recently. In fact, she and your father," Gendo motioned to Asuka, "died on the same day."

"Rei said..."

"That I killed him?"

"Yes."

There was silence for a moment before the penultimate commander of NERV let out a long sigh.

"There's no point in denying it, not that I ever have. Lilith used her power to compel me, so that I would be busy and she could do what her father had ordered. He told me who she was, and what she had planned. He...left to go check on you. Your mother was away from home. Afterward, he sat down at the dining room chair and didn't face me. He knew that would make it easier."

"You're telling me you-"

"The compulsion she cast on me was stronger than anything that I've ever heard of Shinji using. there was no possibility I could refuse her order. While I was...indisposed...she oversaw a testing run of Unit-01. Due to interference on her part, the machine went berserk, and she died as she had been ordered to...but I was unable to accept it."

"Father...are you saying that she was my mother?" Shinji had been told how Yui Ikari had died, and how the grave was empty because there hadn't even been a body.

"Yes. Lilith and Yui Ikari were one and the same. When I came to the testing site, I gathered what little remained of her. Most of her had been absorbed into Unit-01, but her blood remained. I synthesized it and began the creation of a synthetic shell that could recreate the person based on the DNA provided. It proved a...middling success. Today is the first time she's ever regained her consciousness and memories from before her death. However, because she wasn't human, I had to supply some of my own genetic material to make the cloning work correctly. To that extent, Rei is both a clone of your mother, and your biological younger sister. Not that she ever knew, or ever will, of course."

"That's ridiculous."

"All the same, it's true. To change the subject: our plan is unmoved. The two of you will fly to NERV Germany tomorrow, and the latest Rei clone will fly to America with Touji...but without any memory of what happened today. Those events are a secret between the two of you and myself, unless you want to reawaken Lilith. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. You may leave."

The lights illuminating the storage tanks went out as the Children left him there, and he stayed long after. Holding the decapitated head in his hands, he didn't need to look in order to know that her eyes were no longer red, and her hair was no longer blue. The darkness was a comfort.

"The ease with which you lie is almost pathetic, my love." He could hear her voice calling out, just in front of him.

"You never loved me." He countered. "Even if you did, your loyalty to your father was greater than whatever feelings you held for me."

"You can lie to yourself, but not to me. I did what I had to so our son could be strong...and you cast him aside because you couldn't bear to remember, while in the same breath turning around to recreate me? Foolish man."

"You're right." While one eye was forced closed by the dried blood, his other eye remained shut voluntarily. The soft smile on his face almost made him seem warm, kind, even friendly; these were not traits that the fearsome Gendo Ikari was known for. "Even now, all these years later, I'm still a very foolish man."

An impossible gust of wind swept through the room, and silence was all that remained after he had disappeared with it.


End file.
